Using Windows 10 CD version of 2021 Turbotax Deluxe. Married filing jointly. I enter all possible deductions, but don't have enough so it takes the federal standard deduction which is fine. I have several thousand dollars in charitable contributions that I entered, I need these entered in as the state lets me take all charitable contributions as a deduction. Turbo tax does fine and enters $600 in line 12b (I have looked at forms). Page 32 of Federal instructions says enter amount of your contributions, but NOT MORE than $300 file single or $600 filing joint. So bottom line so far Turbotax is doing a fine job at this point. Turbotax does the Federal review and says all is fine.
I do the state and all is fine, all the data I entered for deductions get moved over to state, medical, charity and personal property tax. Turbotax does the state review and all is fine- no errors.
Then I get to the final review and Turbotax increases my Federal tax $36.00. I look around on the forms to find out why and find that on that last final review Turbotax changed line 12b to $300.
Spent 2 hours plus on phone and get answers like you can't enter charitable contribution and enter data on line 12b, I say and show them that Turbotax entered the $600 itself, I didn't enter it. Turbotax correctly knew that I should have line 12b as $600.
Turbotax should not be changing it back to $300. It was right to begin with and passed the federal review and left the $600 in 12b at that point in the process.
So far Turbotax solution is to remove all charitable contributions (which I did for testing), then Turbotax still puts in the $600 dollars on 12b which is an ERROR and audit exception, read federal instructions on 12b page 32. You DON"T get any deduction if you didn't make any! Then they say go into my state and enter charitable contributions manually on the state form. That works, but why have Turbotax if I have to work directly on a form and can not enter actual data on contributions? Then there is the issue of Turbotax putting $600 in there even when I take out all charitable contributions. For me it wouldn't be a problem, for others it could be a problem if audited.
The easier workaround would be to just not do the final review and skip from state to filing.
Just updated to 2/9/2022 version and still not fixed.
Disappointed, years of no problems and now things are a mess and I am basically told that live with it.
For the 2021 tax return using the Married Filing Joint filing status, you are allowed to deduct up to $600 in cash contributions to charity without claiming itemized deductions.
If you are using the Married Filing Joint filing status AND using the standard deduction:
As you go through your Federal return and you have entered your charitable contributions, you will not see any additional questions regarding your inputs. If your state return also allows you to deduct charitable contributions, then the amounts you entered will be taken into account on your state return.
After you have finished your state return and you are getting ready to file, when you run the final Review, you will probably see this message:
1040/1040SR Wks: Charitable Contributions: Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value
You will also see a place at the top of the screen for Charitable contributions with '300' in the box. Below that box, you can see your Form 1040 line 12a which shows the amount of your cash contributions that you already entered.
If your line 12a is greater or equal to $600, enter '600' in the box at the top of the screen.
If your line 12a is less than $600, enter your line 12a amount in the box at the top of the screen.
After changing the input at the top of the screen to the correct value, proceed through any other errors that may pop up and then move forward to file your return. It is very important that you do not revisit any other section of your return before you file or the change may not be retained or able to be changed a second time.
See the screenshot below for reference:
That is not what is happening as of the latest update using Windows and the CD version. I just tried it and have showed several support people on the phone what is happening. They have seen it with their own eyes and said the program was in error and it was a known error. What I posted is still occurring and I don't get any message as described below:
After you have finished your state return and you are getting ready to file, when you run the final Review, you will probably see this message:
1040/1040SR Wks: Charitable Contributions: Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value
Actually as described in original I don't get any message, just a wrong change on line 12b and recalculating of Federal due to a higher wrong amount. This problem is not fixed on CD version.