I haven't gotten an answer to the question I posted in my original posting, the one titled "Form 1040 Schedule A Charitable Contributions Line 13". I added a test case that shows the results I'm getting -- reduced deductions as I increase charitable giving. Has someone had a chance to look at that?
I've copied that test case below:.
Enter numbers in TurboTax that give you the following:
Income values to give AGI: 160000
Charitable donations - cash: 70000
Charitable donations - stock: 20000
Charitable contribution carryovers: from 2023
2023 30% capital gain: 10000
Other deductions on Schedule A: 10000
With those numbers, I get this on Form 1040:
Line 11 - AGI 160000
Line 12 and 14 - Itemized deductions 100000
Line 15 Taxable Income 60000
Line 16 Tax 1448
If I increase the cash charitable giving to 76000, I get:
Line 11 - AGI 160000
Line 12 and 14 - Itemized deductions 94000
Line 15 Taxable Income 66000
Line 16 Tax 2048
So as the charitable donations go up, the tax goes up. That's backwards. The problem seems to me to be in line 13 in Schedule A. It's allowing me to get a larger deduction than the 50% limit -- in fact, larger the less I give, up to a limit.