Why does this "1040/1040SR WKS: Cash Charitable is too large" show up when I try to claim the full cash charitable number of $300 on my return?

[hill-kyia15]

I am taking the standard deductions for 2020 but I want to claim my cash charitable donations that are now allowed under the Cares Act. However, under the TurboTax entry form, it asks for review and that the number 300 is to high. Why is this? I made more than $300 dollars worth of charitable contributions this year so I want to claim the full $300 if possible.

[DanaB27]

Please ensure that you entered the cash contribution while claiming the Standard Deduction not under the Itemized Deduction. 

Please follow these steps to enter the charitable cash contribution for 10b :

1. Login to your TurboTax Account 
2. Click "Federal" from the left side of your screen
3. Click “Deductions &Credits” on the top
4. Scroll all the way down and click the "Wrap up tax breaks" button
5. Continue until the "Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act" screen
6. Enter your charitable cash contributions.

To verify your entry:

1. Click on "Tax Tools" in the left menu
2. Click "Tools"
3. Click "View Tax Summary" in the Tool Center window
4. Click on "Preview my 1040" on the left

[ExPat99]

I found the cause for me was my entry error in the earlier charitable deduction worksheet. TurboTax had pulled over my charities for last year, but Without dollar amounts. I didn't notice that, so didn't enter this year's amounts, thereby saying I had donated $0 dollars. Of course, when I tried to claim the $300 at the end it did not match up. Went back, put in the amounts for this year's donations and the error was resolved.

[Aaron117]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  🙂

[ahdh8888]

Hi

I tried the steps you posted, but it's not solving the issue for me. I am still getting the same error message that my cash charitable is too large even though I did choose Standard deduction and put $300 when asked to put in the donation amount. Do you have any other solution on this issue?

Thanks, 

[KrisD15]

If you are using TurboTax Desktop, you MUST switch to Step-by-Step input mode (top right)

DESKTOP

Go to Step-By-Step input

Click Federal

Click Deductions & Credits along the top

Click “I’ll choose what I work on”

Edit or Update Donations to Charity in 2020 if needed, then click “Done with Charitable Donations”

Scroll down the “Your 2020 Deductions & Credits” screen and click “Done with Deductions”

Click Continue on the “Let’s Check Your Deductions and Credits” screen

Continue through the following interview questions until you get to the “Here Are Your 2020 Deductions & Credits” screen

Click Continue

If the next screen says “The Standard deduction is Right for You!” click Continue

ON THE NEXT SCREEN enter the cash contribution made in 2020 and click Continue

Your 1040 should update

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

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  300

IF YOU ARE ITEMIZING DEDUCTIONS enter 0

Scroll down and click Continue

Click Continue on the next screen

“The new "up to $300 above the line cash charity donation" is available for tax year 2020. This allows a Taxpayer to claim up to a $300 credit which is subtracted from income on the 1040 line 10c if the Taxpayer is claiming the Standard Deduction. (If you Itemize Deductions, all your donations will be listed on Schedule A.) “

@ahdh8888

@hill-kyia15

[adams82]

I had the same issue - it turned out that the charities I had donated to in 2019 came over so I had to enter a value greater than 300 in one of them.  Once I did that, then the validation started working. To get there, go to Federal > Deductions & Credits, then expand Charitable Donations and click Start/Revisit next to "Donations to Charity in 2020".  If it tries to encourage you not to fill it out, just click the option to enter it anyway.  Then you can add an amount.

[ChanvalaMendiga]

If you made no cash donations of up to $300 leave the first box blank, save. This should resolve the issue.

[fzhd4r12]

Tried the recommended fixes and still get the error!

[fzhd4r12]

Finally found how to enter amounts for the charities carried over from last year.

Even though I indicated to take the Standard deduction, it still had entries for the itemized deductions.

Updated the amounts for the charities and then it cleared the error!

[laws120]

I've done all of this, viewing my 1040 shows the $300 and I'm still getting the error.

[sscardsfan1]

It is correct at $600 but gets changed to $300 after the analyzing your return page, ironically right before the page that says guaranteed 100% correct.  I went into the form and set it back to $600.