E-Filer Attachment Form - Charitable Contributions

[jwhite857]

TurboTax told me to print  an additional form for my Colorado state taxes.  I did not itemize even though I listed donations on my federal form.  Turbo Tax recommended that I take the standard deduction.  Why am I required to send this form in with receipts to the state?  I reviewed the State forms and looked through the donations but there is nowhere to list qualifying charitable contributions and I do not see the donations anywhere on the state return.   Why am I required to send in DR 1778 E-Filer Attachment Form when I did not itemize?   

I filed the same way this year as I have in the past and was never required to submit this form with receipts.

[LeticiaF1]

It's possible that although you aren't itemizing on your federal return, you are itemizing on the Colorado return. This is probably why the program is asking for a list of your receipts.  Colorado doesn't have Standard Deduction.  

Colorado State Income Tax in 2025: A Guide

[jwhite857]

As far as I know I have NEVER itemized my state return.  All of my information is carried over from the Federal return to the state return.  I fill out the charitable contriutions the same way every year and for the last several years for federal taxes and TurboTax has had me do the standard deductions.  I have never had to provide any further information for the state.  Is this a glitch in the software possibly?

[staz1]

The same thing happened to me this year. I've never been asked to submit receipts to the state before, either. I'm guessing it's a glitch but I'm not sure if I need to do it? The CO state tax book says, "For claims greater than $5,000, submit the receipts you received at the time of donation. For in-kind donations, submit an itemized list of the donated items and their fair market value. Submit using Revenue Online or include with your paper return. Do not send receipts of items that were purchased for donation." Mine is less than $5K total. Do I just submit receipts for the stuff I donated at ARC/Goodwill in kind? That seems unusual.

[JotikaT2]

Colorado actually provides taxpayers the option of deducting qualified charitable contributions from your state return when you take the standard deduction on your federal return.  This is why you are receiving the message to mail in Form DR 1778 (E-Filer Attachment Form) from Colorado.

If you have entered charitable contributions into the program, TurboTax will generate Form DR 0104AD that is a part of your Colorado filing which is submitted electronically. However, any supporting documents would need to mailed in with the E-Filer attachment form.  Please see this section for more details on when supporting documentation would need to be sent in.

[jwhite857]

Is this something new for the state of Colorado?  I enter contributions and donations every year but then I use the standard deduction - which is what TurboTax advises for me.  I have NEVER been required to send any sort of backup to the state because essentially, I am not deducting these from my calculations.

If I am not using the contributions to calculate my Federal taxes, why would I have to carry them over to the state?

[staz1]

This is definitely helpful but I agree, is it new? Turbo Tax has never prompted me to do this before and I've always submitted my taxes this way in the past. Also, it's not clear from that link which receipts need to be submitted. Is there a certain threshold for a total amount? For each individual gift? Thanks for this.

[jwhite857]

I usually have charitable contributions around $10k but I still take the standard deduction on the federal return.  I am not going to send in this form with my receipts unless the state asks me to.  Since I didn't claim the contributions on my federal return, they shouldn't have crossed over the state return.

Also, when my son in law asked about it  (he got the same message) he was told not to worry about it.

[MonikaK1 · Accepted solution]

Please see this Colorado publication that explains the requirements for the special Colorado charitable contribution deduction for Colorado taxpayers who did not itemize their deductions on their Federal return. 

Any individual who claims the basic standard deduction on their federal income tax return and is therefore unable to claim a federal itemized deduction for charitable contributions can claim a subtraction on their Colorado return for a portion of any qualifying charitable contributions they make during the tax year.

Non-monetary contributions of property made to qualified organizations are generally eligible for the charitable contribution subtraction. However, contributions of clothing and household items qualify for the subtraction only if either the items are in good used condition or better or the item of clothing or household item is valued at more than $500 by a qualified appraisal.

Taxpayers claiming the charitable contribution subtraction must retain records sufficient to verify any contributions for which the subtraction was claimed. Additionally, taxpayers may be required to submit documentation with their Colorado return, including, for example, a completed IRS Form 8283(opens in new window), depending on the amount of their cash and noncash contributions. Please see the substantiation requirements in IRS Publication 526(opens in new window) and the instructions for Colorado form DR 0104AD and IRS Schedule A(opens in new window) for additional information.

@jwhite857 

[staz1]

I went ahead and uploaded my receipts online to the state. I'll let you know how it goes!

[fanfare]

maybe TurboTax is now  smarter about CO state taxes.

[jwhite857]

Maybe but I've used TurboTax for decades and never had this happen.  Even when I was able to itemize on the Federal Return I never submitted anything to the state.  This must be something new.  I will not send my receipts unless Colorado requests them.  

[muellerac]

Where were you able to upload the proof of donation? I have the eFiler document but I am unsure how to attach proof and send it in. Thank you

[Tods27 · Accepted solution]

The issue seems to be that there is no clear guidance on when additional documentation is required. There seems to be a $5000 threshold, and that is referenced when TurboTax asks about additional charitable contributions in the CO state return.  From reading through the documents, I am interpreting the requirement as only needed for single donations over $5000 or non-cash contributions.  With that said, I think that TurboTax printing the E-filer attachment is a bug.  We had almost identical charitable contributions last year and TurboTax did not check the "Qualifying Charitable Contribution...." box (we did have Enterprise Zone Credits in the past so have done the upload process for those).

[RobertB4444 · Accepted solution]

Colorado started asking for this for this year.  Substantiation is required for charitable contributions.  TurboTax is following Colorado's new rules.

You can read Colorado's rules here.

@jwhite857 

@muellerac 

@Tods27