Charitable Contributions

[Aaron117]

In Smart Check (Home/Business) I am getting the following message, "1040/1040SR Wks: Charitable Contributions: Charitable Contributions has an unacceptable value." A drop box comes down and It instructs me to enter a number equal to or less than 300. --- The correct number for the page I entered all my contributions is in the box. I have put several numbers below three hundred and the error still comes up. What can I do to fix the problem?

[KathrynG3]

Leave the box blank. But, you may need to revisit your entries.

The key is the sequencing of the entry in posting cash donations made and having TurboTax recalculate your tax breaks. Anything listed in the Cares Act section before first being entered as a deduction will produce unexpected results.

To do this in TurboTax CD/Download, go to Deductions & Credits and select I'll choose what I work on.

• First, enter in the charitable donation amount as you normally would in the Charitable Donations section of Deductions & Credits.
• When finished entering all donations, select Done with Charitable Donations and Continue.
   
• Scroll to the end of the Deductions & Credits page and select Done with Deductions.
  • You may need to respond to any other additional questions, but eventually see: The Standard Deduction is Right for You! 
  • Click Continue.
  • At Charitable Cash Contributions under Cares Act, you should see any qualified contribution amount already entered from your earlier posts. Select Continue. 

For more information, see IRS Charitable Contributions Deductions.

[TomTaxpayer]

There are a lot of questions on this topic but none seem to apply to me. I am getting the error "1040/1040SR Wks: Charitable Contributions: Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value." but I do have charitable contributions and Turbo Tax tells me Itemized deductions are the best for me. 

I tried deleting my Charitable Contributions and re-adding them as one post suggested, no change.

If this is a bug when will it be fixed? I would like to file, but I can't get past this.

[JamesG1]

Have you intentionally or unintentionally elected the Charitable Cash Contribution under CARES Act?  You may see it on line 10b of the 2020 IRS 1040 tax return.  It could be confusing the itemized deduction / standard deduction computations.

• Down the left side of the screen, click on Tax Tools.
• Click on Tools.
• Under Other helpful links, click on View Tax Summary.
• Down the left side of the screen, click on Preview My 1040 to see the actual tax return that you prepared.
• Down the left side of the screen, click Back to return.

If you are in TurboTax Online, the screen Charitable Cash Contributions under CARES Act appears as the end of Deductions & Credits. First you have to pass the screen Based on what you told us, the standard deduction is best for you at the end of Deductions & Credits.

But you have to qualify for the standard deduction before the screen appears.  So you may want to change the value of one or more itemized deductions to $1 so that you qualify for the standard deduction.  Follow these steps: 

• At the top of the screen, click on Deductions & Credits.
• Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Wrap up tax breaks.
• Continue through several screens.
• At the screen Based on what you told us, the standard deduction is best for you, click Continue.
• At the screen Any Charitable Cash Contributions? delete the dollar amount.
• Continue through Federal Review to make sure that things look correct.
• Then restore your itemized deductions dollar amounts.

See also this TurboTax Help.

[TomTaxpayer]

I am using Turbo Tax Home and Business version for Mac (download). I have nothing like you describe down the left side of my screen, but I clicked Forms in the tool bar and was able to see my 1040. You are correct, it was showing me as using the standard deduction and had my full charitable donation (more than $300) in box 10b.

However, every time I get the summary it tells me "itemized deductions are best for you", so why is the standard deduction selected? At that point it will ask if I want to change my deduction type, so I tried again saying Yes, then I chose the itemized deductions option. I finished out the section (got to Other Tax Situations) and checked my 1040 again. It is still saying Standard Deduction. How do I fix this?

[ReneeM7122]

If you need to push the software to change from standard deduction to itemized, here's how:

You can change from standard deduction to itemized.

TurboTax automatically selects the deduction that gives you the best outcome on your federal taxes. Most 2020 federal tax filers will be better off with the standard deduction versus the itemized deduction.

You can always switch to a different deduction. However, if you and your spouse are filing separate federal returns, both of you must take the same deduction per IRS rules.

Tip: It's best to hold off on switching until after you've finished going through the Deductions & Credits section. That way you can get an accurate picture of how both deductions affect your bottom line. Also, keep in mind that switching to the other federal deduction may impact your state tax return.

TurboTax Online instructions

TurboTax CD/Download instructions

What about my state?

@TomTaxpayer

[TomTaxpayer]

When I started TT this morning to have another look at this problem there were updates to install, so I was hopeful these would address the problem. Maybe they did to a degree, I was no longer getting the error. But even though it would tell me that itemized deductions were better for me when I looked at the forms it would still show the standard deduction. I think I figured out why.

My itemized deductions were only $83 over the standard deduction, and included more than $300 of charitable contributions. Since you can deduct up to $300 of charitable contributions even with the standard deduction suddenly the standard deduction is better because $300 is better than $83 as a deduction. I do wish TT would have accurately told me what it was doing, the error TT was reporting is gone and I have convinced myself it is doing the right thing so I'm ready to file.

Thanks for sticking with it, I'm grateful to be finished. 😊