There are two places to enter charitable contributions in Turbotax for 2020, because of the new special rule that people who take the standard deduction can take a special deduction of up to $300.   Regular charity donations are entered on the deductions and credits page.  The special donation is entered in a special review page that comes up after you finish the deductions and credits page and before you go on to your state.   Unfortunately the error-check won't allow you to enter a value in both places.  If you are itemizing your deductions, you can't have a value in the special deduction, and if you are taking the special deduction, you can't have anything in the itemized deduction section.   To clear the special deduction question, go to the deductions and credits page and click "continue" and the bottom and keep stepping through the interview to access the "other tax situations", "federal review" pages and go on to the state tax module.  During that process, you should get the question about the special deduction.  ... View more

Form 5329 calculates penalties; in the case of an HSA, it might be calculating a penalty for excess contributions, or for distributions that were not used for qualified medical expenses.   (The "-T" means "taxpayer", so the form 5329 is for the first-named taxpayer.  If you were married filing jointly, Turbotax would use "5329-S" to indicate it was the spouse who was being assessed the penalty.)   It sounds like you need to revisit the HSA interview to make sure you had qualifying HDHP coverage for the entire year, that you did not make excess contributions, and that you marked that your withdrawals were all used for qualified medical expenses.  Remember that HSA contributions made by payroll deduction are captured from your W-2 and are NOT entered again separately.  When the program asks for additional HSA contributions, only list contributions you made out of pocket and not via payroll. ... View more

The "Additional Child Tax Credit" has always existed, it is a method by which some taxpayers can get part of the child tax credit added to their refund even if they owe no income tax.  If you qualified, it was already added to your tax return.   The amount of the Child Tax Credit was increased, and the rules for the Additional CTC were relaxed, but that is for 2021 tax returns, not 2020 returns.  ... View more

No. Gifts to specific people are never tax deductible.  To claim a deduction for charitable donations, the donation must be to a US-based charity that is registered with the IRS (or the US-based branch of certain International charities).  ... View more

@LORENANDMARSHA wrote: I am hoping you can help me with this tax situation of my W2 and best way to report it in TurboTax desk top version.  This year 7/2020 the WELS synod changed us female called workers regarding housing allowance and now they will not be taking out taxes on our salary and housing allowance.  My church for 2020 in error kept taking taxes out like an employee even after 7/2020 and only issued one W2.  (2021 they are NOT taking out taxes but I am having them take out $270 bi monthly of my salary instead of paying in quarterly myself and I might have to adjust this).  So my W2 looks like this: Box 1 $34496.82   Box 2 $3662.00 Box 3 $34496.82   Box 4  $2138.80 Box 5 $34496.82   Box 6  $500.20   Box 12A  W $880.98 Box 14 Clergy housing $9166.70 How to I input this in Turbo Tax correctly.  I saw on one of your post I think to enter it has 2 separate W2's?  How would you recommend I enter mine?   You don't need to split your W-2 because even though you were technically dual status, you were paid all under employee status, and Turbotax includes a workaround for this situation.   However, the first question is whether the housing allowance was subtracted from your box 1, 3 and 5 wages.  Was your actual gross compensation $35,000 or $44,000?   If your actual gross compensation was $35,000, then your W-2 does not reflect a tax-free housing allowance.  Box 14 by itself means nothing, it's a memo field that can be populated with almost anything.  You would need to get the situation corrected by the employer -- either they need to issue a corrected W-2, or you didn't get a tax-free housing allowance for 2021.  You can apply for an extension to file your tax return so you aren't considered late.   If your actual gross compensation was $44,000 then your only problem is the withholding of SS and medicare tax.  Since the tax was withheld for the entire year, you aren't being treated as a dual-status taxpayer even though you should have been.  Filing your return is fairly straightforward.  Enter your W-2 as-is, and check the box for religious wages on the page of uncommon situations.  Enter your housing allowance and your qualified expenses.  Check the box for "pay SE tax on housing allowance only."  This choice exists for situations like yours--since you already paid employment taxes on the wages (due to the employer's mistake) you only need to pay SE tax on the housing allowance.  And since your housing expenses are less than your housing allowance, the difference will be added back to your taxable income and be subject to income tax as well as SE tax.    ... View more

@bigteks2 wrote: Hi I have a similar problem. I do have a schedule C for my clergy housing income using code 81300, but I do not seem to be able to trigger the housing question. I have entered my housing a an override in the SE worksheet but this disables efiling in home and business 2020. I would much rather efile if possible.   Do you know what steps I need to take in order to trigger the housing questions in TT (Windows) 2020? I also do not have this income reported on a W2 or 1099R so ... I don't know how you got to the place you are.  You may need to start over from scratch, or at least delete your schedule C and everything attached, and start over with that part.    When you create the job with code 813000, you should be asked right away about a housing allowance.  If you don't also have taxable income, you can't deduct work-related expenses due to the Deason rule, so you won't have a schedule C, just a schedule SE.     Also, I don't think a simple manual entry blocks e-filing, just an override.  Once you create the job, you can enter the housing allowance directly on the schedule C worksheet instead of doing an override on schedule SE or the Schedule SE Adjustment Worksheet.      ... View more

@nash123456 wrote: One last question - we never got a 1099 but I'm still going to attach an explanation to my Federal return, - do I have to attach the same package to my State return too? Or leave it out?  If you received no tax paperwork, then I would not attach any documents to your tax return, and don't mention the money at all, either federal or state.  Keep your documentation in case of audit for at least 3 years.  But if the income has not been reported to the IRS in the form of a 1099, there is no reason for you to attach a statement that will bring the issue to anyone's attention.  ... View more

Disabled for tax purposes has a very specific meaning. It means that a person is unable to perform substantial gainful work due to a condition that is permanent or that will last at least one year or that will lead to death.   this means that many people who have physical disabilities that would be recognized by a doctor are not disabled for income tax purposes as long as they can still work.   The ability to work a minimum wage job with minimal special accommodations is considered by the IRS as proof that a person can perform substantial gainful work. However, work in a sheltered workshop for people with disabilities is not considered substantial gainful work even if the person gets paid.   So the question is not whether your daughter has a diagnosis or whether your daughter can live alone, the question is whether your daughter can perform gainful employment.  If your daughter can’t perform substantial gainful work, then you can indicate that she is disabled on the tax return and that will give you certain additional benefits as described by the other expert. ... View more