Software bug in the PC version of Turbotax Deluxe 2021 relevant to claiming a "Charitable Contribution" deduction for people who file as “Married Filing Jointly”, take the "Standard Deduction", and are "both over age 65".

[JimW99]

I run the PC version of Turbotax Deluxe 2021 on a Windows 10 computer

My wife and I file as “Married Filing Jointly”

We take the Standard Deduction

We are both over age 65

Our Charitable Contributions are approximately $1,000.

My understanding, based on the above listed criteria, is that we are able to claim, as a federal deduction, a portion of our Charitable Contributions (on line 12b of form “1040”).  It is also my understanding that the amount that we are able to claim is $600 ($300 if one person over age 65 is filing, $600 if two people over age 65 are filing).

I believe that Turbotax accomplishes this by setting the amount on line 12b on the “1040/1040SR Worksheet” to ‘600.’ dollars, which in turn, causes the amount on line 12b on form “1040” to also be ‘600.’ dollars

The problem that I am addressing here is that when I click on the “Continue” button at the bottom of the screen who’s title is “Give Us a Minute to Look Things Over…” (Note: This screen is shown after all of the Federal, and all of the State, processing has been done and flagged as being correct), Turbotax changes the line 12b value from ‘600.’ to ‘300.’

 I know this because if I switch from “Step-by-Step” mode to “Forms” mode, and check line 12b, and then switch back to “Step-by-Step” mode, before pressing the above mentioned “Continue” button, line 12b initially contains ‘600.’, and if I repeat the above steps after pressing the above mentioned “Continue” button, line 12b has been changed to ‘300.’

I also know this because the “Federal Refund” amount, shown in the box at the top of the subsequent screen, changes to an amount that is $30 less than what had been shown on many previous screens (the $30 drop represents 10% of the $300 change of the amount specified on the referenced line 12b (i.e. the amount of change if a person is in the 10% tax bracket)).

If my wife and I, or any other tax filers, don’t notice this $30 refund reduction, and therefore don’t figure a back door way to correct the problem, we will not get the full refund that we are entitled to (and are promised by Turbotax to get).

This is definitely a bug in the PC version of Turbotax Deluxe 2021 software.  I tried to find a way to submit this information directly to the Turbotax support team, but unfortunately was not able to find a way.  It is my hope that by posting the information here, a Turbotax software developer will take notice of this posting, and will fix the problem.

[AnnetteB6]

This is something that has been reported to the developers.  While it is reviewed, you can use the following steps to be sure your return is filed with the correct information.  

In your question you mentioned the Review process after all of the Federal and State information has been entered.  For someone filing Married Filing Joint, you should see an error come up that says Check This Entry because the 'Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value'.  You can enter '600' in the box at the top of that screen to be sure you are getting full credit for your donations while still using the standard deduction.  This will clear the error condition and correct your return.