How do I report this Charitable Contributions BUG???

[RussHampton]

When using TurboTax Deluxe for 2021 there is a strange bug associated with the Review tab.  After completing both my Federal and State tax returns, including the individual reviews with each of those returns (with No Errors!) and then continuing on to the Review tab (using the step-by-step method), the refund amount decreases with no explanation whatsoever.  By opening the forms view, the issue became obvious... on a tax return for a couple filing jointly, when a standard deduction is beings used in conjunction with the charitable deduction ($300 per filer, $600 total), the tax return enters the proper $600 deduction (which shows with no error). That is mysteriously changed to $300 in the Review tab's 2nd step.  The results are that the refund is decreased and the $300 (which was $600) in the forms view now shows up as an error (invalid amount entered in the field).

How in the world am I supposed to report this bug?  And... if it goes unreported, how in the world are the developers supposed to fix the bug???

[JotikaT2 · Accepted solution]

You can correct this by logging back into your TurboTax program and following the steps below.

1. Click on the Federal Taxes tab.
2. Select the Deductions & Credits tab.
3. On the screen titled How do you want to enter your deductions and credits?, select I'll choose what I work on.
4. Scroll down to Charitable Donations.
5. Select Update to the right of Donations to Charity in 2021.
6. You will see a screen titled Review All Your Charities.
7. To the right of any deductions entered, select Delete to remove any input.
8. You will then select Done with Charitable Donations.
9. On the next page (Deductions), scroll down to the bottom and click on Done with Deductions.
10. Proceed through the following screens until you pass the screen letting you know you are getting the Standard Deduction.  
11. The next screen titled Charitable Cash Contributions under the Care Act will allow you to enter your charitable contributions for 2021.  Enter your total cash contributions on this screen and select Continue.

This will correct the issue and allow you to continue with your tax return. 

[patnachtrieb]

This works!

[RussHampton]

Thank you for your detailed description of the work-around for the bug I described; I’m sure other people will find it helpful when then encounter the same bug (and with the majority of people now using the Standard Deduction, I’m sure there will be a lot).  That being said… my question wasn’t how I could work around the bug (I had already figured something out that worked, and in fact, had already e-filed my return), my question was how can I submit a “bug report” so that the developers can fix the bug.  I still can’t find a viable way to do that… other than a post here, or on Facebook, etc., none of which are setup for “bug reporting.”

[DawnC]

Here in the Community is the best place to relay your TurboTax experiences to get the quickest resolution.     Unfortunately, there is not a place in the TurboTax software or in TurboTax Online to give feedback anymore.    However, when you start a new thread, you have the option to add a ''Technical Help'' topic tag to your post.    Bookmark that link for quick access to help.  

[Jason707]

Did this get fixed? I am running into the SAME exact issue. Also we are using standard deduction married filing jointly, refund amount goes down and shows $300 on 12b. It should read $600 for us? 

[Jason707]

"7.To the right of any deductions entered, select Delete to remove any input."

When I get to this step, are you saying to delete one of my charitable donations I've entered in? I have a few entered in, not sure I should delete one? 

[Jason707]

"11. The next screen titled Charitable Cash Contributions under the Care Act will allow you to enter your charitable contributions for 2021.  Enter your total cash contributions on this screen and select Continue."

For step #11, I don't get this screen popping up.

[Jason707]

Sorry for the multiple posts, I got to screen #11 (step above) BUT I had to delete my charitable donation which lowered my CA refund amount! How can I fix this so I can not have to delete that donation? Do I just enter it back in on the charitable donations screen so I can input the business donation name? 

[Jason707]

Russ may I ask how you worked around it? I can't do the suggested fix as it deletes my chartiable cash donation and although I enter it back in per the fix the person above posted, fixing it this way lowers my CA refund by over $100.

During the review process Turbo tax pulls up the 1040 form and asks me to update Line 12(b) so I am thinking to just updated the $300 to $600. I tried it and it seems to work great. Is this what you did? Thanks!

[PatofIowa]

This solution does not work.  If you delete the charitable deductions in the deductions and credit sections then they do not roll over to the state form (in my case Iowa).   A solution needs to address how you can use standard deduction on the federal 1040 and Itemized on the state -- which is allowed at least for/in Iowa.   I'm trying to use the $600 Cares act deduction on the federal form (standard deductions) but use a higher value on the state (itemized)

[RussHampton · Accepted solution]

For those of you that asked how I got around this bug in TurboTax Deluxe on Windows 10... When I did the Review under the Review tab (after having already reviewed, individually, both the Federal and State returns), I noticed that my Federal refund had mysteriously decreased.  I opened the Forms View and saw that the 1040/1040SR Wks form was flagged as not complete and had line 12b flagged with an error (has an unacceptable value... the $600 had been decreased to $300... which was deemed to be unacceptable in that form).  I changed the $300 on line 12b in the worksheet back to $600 and the form deemed that to "be acceptable."  After that, I tried the review tab again... with the same results.  So, I again changed the $300 back to $600 and then skipped over the Review tab (note that the individual Federal & State reviews still deemed the returns to be error free) and went straight to the File tab in the Step-by-Step view.

Note that in my case the deductions would have carried over to the state return, since I didn't delete them... but it was immaterial as I am retired and PA doesn't tax retirement income anyway.

I believe that some of the "confusion" on the TurboTax developers part stems from inconsistent information being supplied by the IRS (and most likely, different developers working on the different parts of TurboTax).  The latest version of Publication 526 (Charitable Deductions), which is labeled for the tax year 2020, indicates that the maximum amount of the "Cash contributions for individuals who do not itemize deductions" for "married filing jointly" is $300.  However, the IRS Topic No. 506 clearly states that the amount is $600 for married individuals filing joint returns.  See https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc506

I hope this helps those of you that need to leave your deductions in TurboTax because they are necessary for your state returns.  Good luck!

And, my final complaint... it's simply unconscionable that TurboTax doesn't provide a "bug reporting" method.  And... it's also a very bad business practice that will probably result in a loss of customers due to persistent unaddressed bugs in their production.

[RussHampton]

See my comment from today that explains how I got around the error without deleting the deductions that I had previously entered (which happened to have included cash donations in excess of $600).

[mdrdsr]

I have a similar yet reversed issue? it is beneficial for me to itemize, even though the recommendation is to use standard deduction. Itemizing gives me a much higher state refund (Maryland). But everytime I review Federal, it populates $600 into line 12b. I remove it, on the error screen, and it is good to go. I even printed out the forms to check. And, it appears to then flow the correct itemization to the Maryland state forms. The issue really is that everytime I do a "recheck", TT repopulates with $600. This is his is clearly a bug. If the user states they want to ITEMIZE, regardless of the TT recommendation, they should blank out 12b. So frustrating.

[mrsdawnedavis]

JotikaT2 - Thank you so much!  I was online with TurboTax for almost 90 minutes yesterday trying to figure this out.  They had no fix, and I had no way to file my taxes.  I was livid to discover this same issue existed last year for 2020 taxes, and TurboTax hasn't fixed the problem and hasn't trained their employees on the fix.  You are the bomb--thanks so much for sharing your knowledge with us!