Shouldn't 2019 Charitable Deductions that are carried over be used before 2020 deductions?

[ctyankee]

I made charitable donations of highly appreciated stock to my college in both 2019 and 2020.   $84,600 was carried forward (a.k.a. carryover) on my 2019 TurboTax Premier software to 2020.  I entered that amount in the Step-By-Step directions on my 2020 TurboTax Premier in the "Capital Gain Property limited to 30% of AGI" field.  

This year (2020) my contribution of highly appreciated stock was 95,000.  By looking at the Charity Limit Worksheets and the "Charitable Contributions Summary" in TurboTax, I see that a portion of 2020's 95,000 was used and a portion carried forward.  However, all of 2019 ($84,600) was carried forward to 2021.  I am itemizing in both years.  

Because charitable contributions can only be carried forward five (5) years, shouldn't it have used my 2019 carryover amounts first? 

Thanks for any help.  

[ctyankee]

Hmmm ... maybe this is more specialized than I thought ...

[DaveF1006]

You may have not been able to use the carryover this year because of AGI limitations. if you itemized, you may have had other deductions that reduced your taxable income to a level that limited your carryover. 

if you can view it, the information is listed on a charitable deduction carryover worksheet and provides information about the limitation of the deduction.

What I suggest is to call 1-800-446-8848 and speak to Tech Support. Ask them to perform a diagnostic as they can be able to look at the worksheet and pinpoint this specific issue.

[ctyankee]

Dave,

Thanks for your reply.  Certainly, you are correct (at the aggregate level).  Because of the 30% restriction on gifts of highly appreciated stock, I will be carrying forward donations for a few years.   But, again, why is it allowing deductions from 2020 before using the same exact type of deduction carried-forward from 2019?  Why isn't it on a FIFO (First-In, First Out) basis?  This wouldn't matter if charitable donations were carried forward forever (until used) like LT capital losses are ... but they are NOT. 

I did look at the worksheets.  There is:

Charity Limit 1  .... Which is a 2020 calculation, which uses 30% of AGI and puts the rest to 2021

Charity Limit 2 ... Which is a 2019 calculation that just moves totals to 2021

Charity Contrib ... Which is a summary of all years, confirming that 2019 was just dumped to 2021

I took your suggestion and called the number you provided.  The first person immediately got the problem and also wondered why TurboTax wasn't using prior-year charitable donations up FIRST.  However, he said that resolving the problem was above his ability and he had to transfer me to another person.  We then sat on the line together for 15 minutes while his written request within the system was approved.  

Once approved, he connected my call.  The person I was dealing with appeared to be a low-functioning individual.  We went to "share screen" mode so that she could see my forms.  While she said that she has been doing this for 8 years, she didn't even know how to navigate the screens.  She wanted me to go to the top to the pull-down menus to see what was there.  She had no concept of how to analyze whether my concerns had merit even when I brought up the forms and worksheets that showed the problem.   She had no clue of the different forms of charitable deductions allowed.  No idea whatsoever.  No idea that cash contributions are handled differently than appreciated stock.  Worst, I had to repeat and repeat key points that the first guy got in 30 seconds and she probably never understood.  I asked if this could be raised up for further review and she only seemed interested in clearing my ticket as closed.  When they tell you that another upgrade might solve the problem, and you ask whether my concern is a KNOWN ISSUE ... and she doesn't know or know how to find out ... all is lost.  I prefer not to go on and on about this, as I don't want to seem mean-spirited, but it all came across as I was on Candid Camera and was being punked.  I'm not kidding ... that bad.