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Level 3
posted Feb 26, 2022 10:14:16 AM

Why would my tax owed go way down when I enter $4000 worth of household charitable donations if I'm taking the standard deduction? Is this an error in turbotax?

Turbotax tells me that I should take the standard deduction since I don't have enough donations. So then I deleted the charitable donations, but my tax owed went up considerably.  So entered it back in, but it went down. I only have about $3k of other deductions, so this doesn't make sense. This is not the $300 that the irs allows for cash contributions. 

 

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1 Replies
Expert Alumni
Feb 26, 2022 10:37:53 AM

In 2021, even taxpayers who take the standard deduction are allowed a $300 deduction for cash charitable contributions, or $600 if married filing jointly. This law does not apply to any future years.