Problem with Stock Donation Contribution to Charity

[thorntree]

When put the Cost Basis in the stock donation section, its appears as the Value of the Donation rather than the Appreciated Value of the stock.

[ReginaM]

When entering your stock donation into TurboTax, be sure to enter the Value on the Date of Donation in the correct box.  TurboTax also asks for your Cost Basis in a separate box, be sure that the correct amount is being reported in each box.  If entered correctly,TurboTax will report the value of donation as the Value on the Date of Donation and not the Cost Basis.

[tfniehaus]

The same thing happened with me: I entered the value of the stock on date of donation in the Value on Date of Donation box and I entered the cost basis in the Cost Basis of Investment box, and the cost basis value appears as the donation Amount. It’s not a user-error problem, it's a bug that needs to be fixed.

[AmyC]

I am looking into the issue. I am trying to re-create your situation on both the online and desktop versions. Please bear with us while we check this out. 

[tfniehaus]

It’s been a week; what have you found?

[SteamTrain]

@tfniehaus 

Mine worked OK with desktop...BUT...what acquisition date did you use??

[LindaB1993]

In my test case, I  entered the valuation at the date of the gift and also the cost basis at the date of acquisition.  The test case indicated that the valuation on the date the stock was gifted, was the donation amount.

When you donate stock to charity, you’ll generally take a tax deduction for the full fair market value. And because you are donating stock, your contribution and tax deduction may instantly increase over 20%.

[dcrinzema]

I'm having the same problem.  The amount I enter in the Cost Basis field has a dramatic effect on my allowable deduction and tax refund when it should have no effect whatsoever. This donation does exceed the 30% of income limit and along with my other donations the 60% limit has also been exceeded so that could have something to do with the bug.   In the date field I've entered 02/12/16 so it's definitely Long Term.   I'm using the desktop Deluxe 2019 version of TurboTax.

[dcrinzema]

Sorry, I figured out my problem and all is well.  Please ignore my previous post!

[golfcrackerjack]

It's been some time since someone posted on this problem, I'm having the same problem....

All my info is entered correctly, it's a 50% charity, namely Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund.   I followed TurboTax instructions precisely.

Please advise ASAP.

Thanks.

[SteamTrain]

@golfcrackerjack 

As long as your date of acquisition was more than 1 year before the gift date, it should work OK, as far as the value of the donation is concerned.

_______________________________

BUT You didn't really define what problem you are seeing. 

For example:

You can enter the donation,  but a form 8283 isn't created until the total of all your deductions exceeds the Std Deduction for your filing status. 

................nor does it reduce your taxes due (or increase your refund) until itemized deductions takes over.

[lizcoley]

I am having the same issues as everyone else. I am itemizing deductions, well into the range where that effect kicks in. Now entering stock donations. I am entering the fields exactly as asked for--date of donation 6/8/2019; value at time of donation copied from my brokerage statement; date of acquisition copied from my brokerage statement; cost basis copied from my brokerage statement.  THERE IS A SERIOUS BUG IN THIS PART OF THE PROGRAM. On the donations overview page for this recipient (a church), the number in "amount" is repeatedly and inconsistently incorrect. On 18 lines it is the true donation value, on 9 lines it is the basis. I can't detect a pattern in the errors.

[lizcoley]

It is inconsistent. You need to do a test with more entries. Mine was incorrect 9/27 entries.

[lizcoley]

What did you figure out?

[lizcoley]

ACK!! Well, FFS! I dug deep into the background forms and the tax code and discovered that you can only take the full market value as a deduction if you have owned the stock for longer than a year. If not, you can only claim the cost basis as your donation. The program is reflecting this rule when sometimes it shows only the basis as the tax deductible amount. SO SAD. I wish my danged broker had known this.

What I found:

"After you have held stock for more than one year and its price has risen, at the time of the donation you get a tax deduction equal to the fair market value of the stock (not its cost basis). "