Total Contributions show as error. How to fix?

[Onefish]

I've been stalled for two days now. I entered all our contributions as required.  Plus a few non-cash donations and mileage that totals less than $500. I've gone through the cash donations again, one by one and each has been entered correctly. One expert answered that I needed to enter the contributions one by one as the program requires, which I had already done following another volunteer's advice. 

But the total on Schedule A is still "pinked" out.  Another expert showed me how to look at the source of the pinked out number and it showed the worksheet where the number comes from. It showed a total that agrees with the amount on Schedule A.  

Our itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction, so our contributions are important.

What am I missing?

[KrisD15]

To clarify, what amount is your Itemized Deduction?

[Onefish]

I can tell you the mistake I made.

I already knew what my total cash contributions were--fully supported  with all the documents to get through an audit if necessary.  So I simply recorded that figure directly to the form.  

It turns out TT won't let you do that. Even though the IRS return form does not ask for the detail, the only number TT will accept is the one that comes from entering each one—one by one. Lesson learned. The IRS trusts us but TT doesn't.  :(   

TT also likes to sell its "It's Deductible" program, so there's that.

[KrisD15]

I see.

Testing with the software, it is apparent the program tries to cover every possible scenario. I would assume the program wants the individual entries to ask about documentation if applicable for donations of $250 or more to any specific organization. 

Thank you for using TurboTax.  

[Onefish]

There is no need for  TT to question taxpayers on every detail of the tax return.  Were calculations of some sort needed, it would be worthwhile to make sure no arithmetic errors are made (for instance say there was a rule that only 53.2% of a given donations was deductible. it could do that calculation without needing to figure it out every time. But of course no such calculation is needed.)  All the 1040 asks for is the total of all cash donations, period. I keep excellent records of all of our donations; TT as it is, adds no value by forcing me to enter donations to non-profits entity by entity.

Here's an idea for TT that would be worthwhile: since TT insists on entity-by-entity totals, why not have a look-up feature for each entity to confirm that it is indeed a bona-fide charitable organization?