I tested TurboTax Online and 600 was taken on line 12c.
If you are having trouble, please try the steps listed below.
TurboTax ONLINE
Click Tax Tools on the left side bar
Click Tools from the drop-down
Click the "Topic Search" box on the screen
Type or scroll down to standard deduction and exemptions
Click GO
The next screen gives you an option to change your selection from Standard to Itemized and back. You do not need to change your selection if you are taking the standard deduction and the charity cash contribution
Scroll down to the bottom of that screen and click CONTINUE
The next screen is the Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act screen
IF YOU ARE CLAIMING STANDARD DEDUCTION enter the amount of cash contributions you made, up to 600 if Married Filing Jointly
IF YOU ARE ITEMIZING DEDUCTIONS enter 0
Scroll down and click Continue
Click Continue on the next screen
PLEASE NOTE, IF THESE STEPS DO NOT BRING YOU TO THE "CHARITABLE CASH CONTRIBUTION under CARES ACT" page, and you entered "Donations to Charity in 2021" under Deductions & Credits, you may need to delete that entry.
Click Deduction & Credits on the screen, and scroll down to "Donations to Charity in 2021" and click EDIT/ADD
Delete all entries
Click "Done with Charitable Donations" when all entries have been deleted.
Follow the steps listed above
[Edited 01/10/2022 I 3:26pm PST]
very helpful and detailed response. I had to delete all donation entries to get to the Cares Act screen and $600 for MFJ was there!
I'll need to re enter the specific donations which are needed for my state return, will that undo this effort?
thank you again. terrific response.
Thanks.
Is there a way to advise Turbo Tax of this problem? I have well over $600 in charitable deductions reported in my TurboTax Online form, yet they only calculate $300 allowable when using the Standard Deduction. The law was changed from 2020 now allowing MFJ to post a maximum of $600 with the Standard Deduction is used.
This is the only entry which will delay my filing.
I tested TurboTax Online and 600 was taken on line 12c.
If you are having trouble, please try the steps listed below.
TurboTax ONLINE
Click Tax Tools on the left side bar
Click Tools from the drop-down
Click the "Topic Search" box on the screen
Type or scroll down to standard deduction and exemptions
Click GO
The next screen gives you an option to change your selection from Standard to Itemized and back. You do not need to change your selection if you are taking the standard deduction and the charity cash contribution
Scroll down to the bottom of that screen and click CONTINUE
The next screen is the Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act screen
IF YOU ARE CLAIMING STANDARD DEDUCTION enter the amount of cash contributions you made, up to 600 if Married Filing Jointly
IF YOU ARE ITEMIZING DEDUCTIONS enter 0
Scroll down and click Continue
Click Continue on the next screen
PLEASE NOTE, IF THESE STEPS DO NOT BRING YOU TO THE "CHARITABLE CASH CONTRIBUTION under CARES ACT" page, and you entered "Donations to Charity in 2021" under Deductions & Credits, you may need to delete that entry.
Click Deduction & Credits on the screen, and scroll down to "Donations to Charity in 2021" and click EDIT/ADD
Delete all entries
Click "Done with Charitable Donations" when all entries have been deleted.
Follow the steps listed above
[Edited 01/10/2022 I 3:26pm PST]
very helpful and detailed response. I had to delete all donation entries to get to the Cares Act screen and $600 for MFJ was there!
I'll need to re enter the specific donations which are needed for my state return, will that undo this effort?
thank you again. terrific response.
Thanks, as this was driving me nuts. Little disappointing that Turbo Tax doesn't just come out and ask about CARES donations first.
I see the solution to the $600 problem for TurboTax Online. However, I'm using the downloaded software on my Mac and the software only puts $300 in the field.
I assume you are filing MFJ and you did not put in any other deductions? If so TT should then ask you specifically for your cash charitable donations at which point you enter your charitable donations. Apparently anything entered in deductions keeps this question from popping up. Weird.
The deduction on line 12b Charitable Cash Contributions under CARES Act can be entered at either:
In either case, you must pass all the way through both Deductions & Credits and Other Tax Situations.
The software has to know that you qualify for the Standard Deduction after you pass through these sections of the software before it can correctly report the deduction on line 12b of the 2021 Federal 1040 tax return.
I am still confused. I am using the download deluxe version. There is no screen "Charitable Contributions under CARES ACT'". I can manually force $600, but do I then put "CARES ACT" in the explanation on the1040worksheet?
The best way to record this is to go to federal>deductions and credits. Scroll through the entire deduction section until you reach a screen that says the Standard Deduction is Right for you. The very next screen will allow you to enter $600 as the charitable contribution. This amount should now appear in Line 12B of form 1040.
Do not enter this anywhere else including the worksheets.
There is still a bug in the software. I was in step-by-step mode. After going back and editing deductions, it still did not give a message "the standard deduction is right for you" with a place to enter the CARES deduction.
Also, at the end of the deduction screen, the software would not continue. I saved, exited, restarted and ran "final review". This flagged a CARES entry as being the wrong amount ($300 instead of $600 for MFJ). I edited this number in the forms view, reran review and everything was OK.
To clear this up in TurboTax Desktop and get your deduction recorded on your tax return, do the following.
This doesn't appear to work on my Deluxe desktop version . When I click "Done with Deductions", pressing continue results in the following sequence of pages:
Let's Check Your Deductions and Credits
Retirement Income Results
IRA Contribution Results
Retirement Deduction Results
[ Name ], Here are Your 2020 and 2021 Deductions & Credits
The Standard Deduction is Right for You!
Qualified Business Income Deduction Summary
That's it. Pressing continue once more brings me out of the "Deductions & Credits" section and to the "Other Tax Situations" section. No CARES act pages.
Moreover, I went into forms and changed the $300 to $600. It stayed for a bit but then went back to $300 when I reviewed and printed a PDF of the return.
UPDATE: Feb 1 - The $600 seems to be staying now. However, to be safe I re-read the best 2 solutions and saw it said that if Charitable Contributions under CARES Act doesn't show up, go into "Donations to Charity in 2021" under Deductions & Credits and delete any entries you previously made. Then clicking on Done with Donations & Credits did eventually bring up the CARES Act page (after other screens), where I could properly enter 600 for our Married Filing Jointly status.
Yes. I am still getting the same error, and the software is up to date. This is an obvious bug. What else is the software not doing correctly? That is why I always do my final review in "forms" view!
@l405585 wrote:
How do I do that process using the disk version?
To remove the error I went into Forms mode and deleted the Charitable Organization Worksheet. Then on the Form 1040 Worksheet for Line 12b removed the $300 amount so Line 12b is now blank (empty).
Going back to Step-by-Step I completed the Deductions & Credits section without entering anything for a charitable donation and click on Done with Deductions. Continuing through the screens until landing on the screen labeled Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act, I entered $600. Continued through Final Review without error.
This does not appear to work with Turbo Tax loaded from CD.
Did exactly what you did enter 600 on line 12b.
However when you perform the Federal Tax check for error....software changes it back to $300.00 and you get a error on return !
Hopefully TurbTax can do a update
@chinga52 wrote:
This does not appear to work with Turbo Tax loaded from CD.
Did exactly what you did enter 600 on line 12b.
However when you perform the Federal Tax check for error....software changes it back to $300.00 and you get a error on return !
Hopefully TurbTax can do a update
Did you see this? It is for the TurboTax desktop CD/Download editions.
To remove the error I went into Forms mode and deleted the Charitable Organization Worksheet. Then on the Form 1040 Worksheet for Line 12b removed the $300 amount so Line 12b is now blank (empty).
Going back to Step-by-Step I completed the Deductions & Credits section without entering anything for a charitable donation and click on Done with Deductions. Continuing through the screens until landing on the screen labeled Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act, I entered $600. Continued through Final Review without error.
I went through this very process; the $600 remained but the return still would not transmit. Error reads:
"The Intuit Electronic Filing System is having difficulty recognizing the data in the return you are sending. Make sure your Turbo Tax program is up-to-date: Go to the Online menu and select Check for Updates. If you still can't transmit your return, go to www.support.turbotax.com for a solution or workaround. In some cases, you may need to file this return by mail. -FAILED_VALIDATION - There is an update available for you version of Turbo Tax. Before you can file electronically you'll need to get this update. To do this, go to the online menu and select Check for Updates." Spent 60 minutes with Turbo Tax Help on the phone before they just dropped my call. I have checked for updates about 10 time and each time am told my software is up to date. I even ran a brand new return for which I was charged another $20 for the state e-file (same result) This is obviously a software issue that Turbo Tax needs to fix NOW!
If you entered any Charitable Donations under "Deduction & Credits" delete those entries.
Next you can go through the Step by Step and change the number to 600
Be sure the picture of the form does not have the number in red, click on the picture of the form if necessary
OR go to Forms, Change Line 12b on the 1040/1040SR Wks
be sure to click on the form after changing so the number is BLUE not RED
I have done all of the suggested operations and the error is still present. I'm convinced there is a software issue that needs to be resolved.
In any case, it just shouldn't be this hard. What good is it to make tax returns easier if it's just replaced by software that's nearly as cumbersome?