Do I really need to list "all" charitable donations in Turbotax?

[farhan_ahmad]

I am entering my charitable donations and have alreday entered like 10 or so entries where donation amount was in hundreds or thousands now I have many more to enter where donation amount was less than 100 and some of them as low as $20. I am wondering if I can just add one entry called 'Misc. Donations' and enter the sum of these small amounts. Is that OK  or I have to list each donation separately?

So far for all the ten  $100+ enteries I've entered, I've listed the 501 c Tax ID in the title.  Most of the remaining small entries also have Tax ID but some may not have. 

My concern with entering too many donations might flag my return - I do have receipts but no one likes to go through audit 🙂

(also note I am entering donations for state refund only.  For federal I am claiming standard deduction - I don't think it impact the answer of the question but mentioned just in case).

[Carl]

I would expect that if you entered "misc donations" of a large amount, that would probably have a high risk of raising flags. See if this helps.

If you made multiple donations to the same charity throughout the year, you most certainly can total the donations to that one charity and have just one entry.

[farhan_ahmad]

Thanks @Carl  - even if I combine all those mini donation the total will be much less than many of the other donations I have listed individually. For each of the ten entries I am already combining the donations and entering the total amount e.g. if I donated $1500 in 9 transactions I only enter $1500 for that one charity. But for these mini donations even thought they too many the combined total is less than $750.

so what is more risky - adding one more entry of that amount or adding a dozen or more entries.

[rjs · Accepted solution]

You didn't say whether your donations are money or property. If your total non-cash donations are more than $500 you must list each non-cash donation separately. If the donations are all money, the federal tax return shows only the total amount. The IRS doesn't see any of the details that you enter. I would assume that most state tax returns would be the same. Check the form for itemized deductions for your state and see if it requires anything other than the total amount of money donations. If the state is only going to see the total, it doesn't matter how much or how little detail you enter. You could just enter one donation to "Miscellaneous Charities" for the total amount. But keep all your detailed records and receipts with your tax records in case the state questions the deduction.

[Mike9241]

as far as I have been able to determine no detail is transmitted about the contributions except when form 8283 is needed.  if you look at schedule A all cash contributions go on line 11. There isn't room to detail cash contributions even if filed on paper. if the IRS wanted details there would likely be a supplemental schedule to detail them.   could you be audited if cash contributions are large - yes - but it would likely be due to the amount being out-of-whack with the income reported. when I was active in preparing returns and there was no electronic filing clients often asked that I show the details on schedule A for the largest (there was a lot more room on Schedule A back then). once e-filing started and I told them the computers at the IRS couldn't read the names and that less time meant less fees, clients changed their minds. 

[farhan_ahmad]

@rjs it was all money mostly paid online or checks. No cash or non-cash charity.

@Mike9241  @Carl and @rjs   thanks for all your help.