Question

How do I fix my charitable contributions? It says I have an unacceptable value.

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
January 10, 2021
33 replies
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TurboTax Free Edition Online

Critter-3

Zero seems to be an unacceptable amount ... either enter an amount or leave the input box blank.

B

BranaghanC

I have the same problem, entering zero, a random number, or leaving it blank has not solved the problem.

MaryM428

There are a few work arounds for when this happens. This was a known error and now has been corrected. But sometimes the first set of steps still does not work.

Click Deductions and Credits
Select Review/Edit
Click Edit to the right of Standard Deduction
Click OK, Sounds Good
Click Wrap Up Tax Breaks
Click Continue
Make sure that $300 is filled in and then click Continue
Click Lets Keep Going

If there is still an error, then go through the next work around.

Here is the second work around for claiming the $300 Charity Deduction:

In TurboTax select Federal in the panel on the left
Select Deductions & Credits at the top of the page
Under Your Tax Breaks - Charitable Donations
Click START to the right of Donations to Charity in 2020
Click YES
Click ADD next to Money
Type in the name of the charity that you donated to
Type the amount of the donation
Select Done with Donation
Select Done

Now the $300 will appear on Line 10B and in the Charitable Contributions screen

E

enowak1031

Same problem! I need this fixed!

W

Whydont-theyteachtaxesinschool

Having the same issue and I've tried all the recommendations in the comments. Nothing is working, it still says the value is an unacceptable value every time.

C

Cynthiad66

Yes. There is a problem with the Contributions section of the Itemized deductions and also the above the line $300.00 deduction. Because of the many changes due to the CARES Act, IRS is still developing the forms and publications on this issue. Last update was January 13th where everything is still in draft. Once IRS finalizes the forms, we will be able to update TurboTax to accurately reflect your Contributions deduction.

Here are some of the changes due to the CARES ACT

The new legislation allows tax deductions on two types of charitable gifts. First, it allows up to $300 given to a qualified charity to be claimed as an above-the-line deduction. After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which went into effect in 2018, increased the standard deduction, many taxpayers had less incentive to donate to charities. Instead, they took the standard deduction and stopped itemizing.

For taxpayers who will itemize deductions, the CARES Act effectively suspends the limit on deductions for cash contributions to public charities for 2020. “That allows individuals to completely wipe out their AGI, and their tax liability, with a charitable contribution.

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

T

taylorjrt

So, I'm assuming this is still an issue as I'm stuck in the "loop of death" and none of the "fixes" actually fixes anything. Will we all get an email saying when the bug will be fixed?

M

meganm1921

Also having this problem still. Repeatedly telling us to just fill out $300 (whether or not we did donate that much) does not fix the problem and I am very frustrated that this is still an ongoing issue. Is there any other resolution to this problem yet?

C

Chris178

OK, sorry, this isn't going to be the best instruction, but since I fixed it, now it doesn't seem to let me go replicate the steps, so I'm doing it from memory and paraphrasing a bit, but this might help:

I went back to Deductions & Credits, and when it says the standard is best for you, I clicked the "itemize anyway," then I went to the charitable donations and edited that. It had some incorrect information already filled in, so I deleted a few charities that I did not donate to, ensured that I had the correct amount to the charities I did donate to, saved that ("continue" or whatever it is), and then it worked out. Again, sorry this isn't precise, but it won't let me do it again, and, honestly, I'm scared to try too hard in the event that I'll be knocked back into the death loop again somehow...

Hope that helps! If so, maybe TurboTax can give me a free filing this year... 🙂

G

garamain

Thank you!! Please give Chris178 an upvote, an award, and 5 years of TurboTax deluxe! Going back and saying "itemize anyway" got me out of the loop of death!

M

Mylesperhr

how did u get to the itemize anyway message prompt?

M

m-che

So I was also in the loop of death for a while, and after going back and following what other people mentioned (inputting the itemized deductions/adding the charity donations line-by-line in the "Federal" section), it kept bringing me back to the same error page whenever I'd try to submit my taxes.

SO I made sure that the amount on the itemized deductions page MATCHED the amount I put in on that error page, and it worked! I'm not sure if it'll work for everyone, but maybe as long as the amounts match, it'll work? Just wanted to put that out there in case it helps anyone else!

R

regularGuy_3

Had the same issue. Entering $0 in the charitable contributions box kept bringing me back to the form for a review. I don't know if it's because the bug has been finally fixed or I just got lucky but I clicked on FEDERAL in the left menu within TurboTax and clicked on CREDITS AND TAX BREAKS again. I went through the questions without changing any information I had already filled and kept to the standard deduction option. (Just make sure to select the appropriate numbers in the list that finally leads you to the standard deduction option). Once everything was filled, I kept hitting the CONTINUE button even when it asked me to review and finally gave me the E-CHECK sign. I hope this helps.

ReneeM7122

There is a known issue that produces the message, Charitable contributions has an unacceptable value." Try these steps:

First, clear your cache.

Your browser stores recently visited webpages as temporary files in a cache, which enables the pages to load more quickly when revisited.

However, a full or corrupted cache can cause problems in TurboTax, so sometimes you need to clear your cache (that is, remove these temporary files).

Here are the official instructions for the most popular browsers:

Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 (use the drop-down on the upper right corner of that page for earlier versions)
Microsoft Edge

Apple's official support site doesn't appear to contain instructions for clearing the cache in Safari. Your best bet is to search the Internet for clear Safari cache or similar search terms.

If your cache isn't the issue, it might be best to delete it and start again.

Next, sign back into TurboTax and try the following:

Go to the Deductions and Credits tab
Select Review/Edit
To the right of Standard Deduction, click Edit
Click OK, Sounds Good when you see it.
Click Wrap Up Tax Breaks
Click Continue

The Charitable Donations question should either not appear at all, or the amount should be zero.

If this didn't work, and you still experience the same error, try deleting a charitable donation form floating in the background:

Go to Tax Tools on the left panel of the screen
Click on Tools
Click on Delete a form
If you see a form with a charitable donation on it, delete it and take steps 1-5 again.

@regularGuy_3

A

aficer

I'm having this same error and the fixes listed are NOT working. Please help

L

Lux2222

It's pretty bad that Turbo Tax has left this issue for over a month. As the first post is from the end of January and I just encountered it on March 7th.

The literal only reason for me to fork over money to you people is to make this fast, easy and convenient. All of the other supposed benefits I just gave you $100 for are BS and we all know it.

When you start wasting my time looking up how to deal with obvious software bugs on your help forums you've negated the purpose of the service entirely.

Let me also point out that the forum expert's solutions .... DON'T WORK and it was regular users who figured out the actual solution. I'm sorry but what is your staff doing?

Seriously considering not using TURBOTAX anymore. I can stop being lazy and type my name and information into one of the free programs and get it done myself.

Y

yasmin8180

In my case, somehow! thanks heaven! it had to do with the carry over from 2019 which is wrong for this software to do. It shouldn't be carrying over that type of information and then make it so complicated to correct!

So! even though you enter 0, it keeps kicking you back to it because the line above it on the 1040 Form might be carrying a number. I was able to go back to that topic and delete the carried over donation from 2019 which I'm not even sure I made to begin with.

Good luck people! We need to find a different option. TaxAct is pretty ok.

R

Reiki-chic

OMG Jasmine I'm dealing with the same thing right now, I think?! I looked in my tax return and my charitable contributions or freaking ENORMOUS!!! IM TALKING MORE THAN $200k!!!!???? Wtf is THAT??? I did the whole final review and as it was about to print it & realized something is really wrong. And then I realized where it was & I'm like "I don't think I donate an entire house last year???!"🤔 🤔🙎 I unfrickinbelievable, TurboTax!

They're probably tons of people that don't know what they're doing that filed with carryovers like this if this happened to me and you. I have to research this more. I need a disc like I need a hole in my head! I'm so pissed because now I have to go back and Trace all my carryovers through all the last 3 years to make sure that they carried over properly and at the correct amounts. Ugh! It would have been faster had I just written in my information the old-fashioned way!

A

allylovich

can someone fix this. It's ridiculous. Been trying to file for days now.

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Robert Pinto

I edited the forms directly as a workaround for the case of Itemized Deductions and a cash contribution. Go to Form 1040/1040SR. On the insertion line next to the bold area between lines 10a and 10b, enter the total for your cash contributions. Then, on line 10 b, insert a blank by highlighting the entry and hitting return.