Getting Donations into Tax Software: The 2026 Landscape

Updated April 8, 2026 · Foothill AI

You tracked your charitable donations all year. Now it's tax time and you need to get that data into your tax software. How hard can that be?

Surprisingly hard, it turns out. We researched every major tax platform to understand how they handle charitable donation data—and the answer is mostly "they don't." Here's what we found, what DeductIt does today, and where we're headed next.

The Problem: Tax Software Doesn't Import Donations

If you've tried to move donation data into your tax software, you've probably discovered a frustrating reality: almost no tax platform supports importing charitable contributions. You can import W-2s, 1099s, and brokerage statements automatically—but donations? You're on your own.

This got worse in October 2025, when Intuit shut down ItsDeductible, the only major donation tracker that connected directly to TurboTax. Millions of users who relied on that integration suddenly had no path forward.

Here's how each major platform handles it today:

That's six out of eight platforms with zero import capability for donations. The only built-in automated path is a file format called TXF—and it only works with desktop software, not the online versions most people use.

What Is TXF? What Actually Transfers?

TXF (Tax Exchange Format) is a text-based file format created in 1991. It was designed so financial software could export data that tax programs could import. For decades, it was the bridge between tools like Quicken, ItsDeductible, and TurboTax.

The format maps directly to IRS form fields using token codes: N280 for cash gifts (Schedule A, line 11) and N485 for non-cash donations (Schedule A, line 12). When you import a TXF file, TurboTax reads those codes and slots the amounts into the right places on your return.

But TXF was never updated for the web era. TurboTax Online, H&R Block Online, FreeTaxUSA—none of them support it. And the specification hasn't been updated since 2011.

What TXF transfers successfully

We've done extensive testing of what TurboTax Desktop actually does with TXF imports. Here's what works:

• Cash donation amounts — per charity, mapped to Schedule A line 11
• Non-cash donation amounts — per charity, mapped to Schedule A line 12
• Per-donation dates — using the TD+TS (detail/summary) record pairing format
• Charity names — preserved per donation, maintaining identity across multiple gifts to the same organization
• High volumes — dozens of donations to the same charity aggregate correctly
• Special characters — apostrophes, ampersands, periods all work fine

What TXF cannot transfer

These are hard limitations of the TXF format—not bugs, but things the 1991 spec simply doesn't support:

• Stock donations — silently dropped by TurboTax on import (no error message). Stock requires Form 8283 data (cost basis, acquisition date, valuation method) that TXF can't represent.
• Charity addresses — TurboTax requires the charity's address for non-cash donations over $500. There's no field for this in TXF, so you'll need to enter addresses manually.
• Item categories — TurboTax auto-assigns "Household items and clothing" for all non-cash imports. Your actual categories (electronics, furniture, etc.) are lost.
• Item descriptions — no field in the TXF spec for what you donated
• Valuation method — thrift shop value, replacement cost, etc. can't be specified
• Mileage details — TXF can carry the dollar amount as cash (N280), but TurboTax then asks for miles driven, trip dates, and vehicle information that the format can't represent. DeductIt excludes mileage from TXF exports to avoid incomplete entries—you'll need to enter mileage manually.
• Form 8283 details — for items over $500, TurboTax needs acquisition date, cost basis, and how the charity will use the item. None of this is in TXF.

The H&R Block wrinkle

H&R Block Desktop accepts TXF files, but aggregates everything into just two totals: one for cash and one for non-cash. If you donated $100 to the Red Cross and $200 to Goodwill, you'll see a single $300 "Cash Contributions" line. The per-charity detail is lost.

How DeductIt Bridges the Gap

DeductIt provides three ways to get your donations into tax software, each solving a different part of the problem. To our knowledge, DeductIt is currently the only donation tracker that offers automated data entry for TurboTax.

1. Copy/Paste Guide

DeductIt generates a structured, step-by-step guide that organizes your donations into exactly the categories your tax software expects—cash aggregated by charity, non-cash items with descriptions and fair market values, mileage summaries, stock details. You follow the guide while entering donations in your tax software. Available for all platforms.

2. TXF File Import (TurboTax Desktop)

For TurboTax Desktop users, DeductIt generates a TXF file you can import directly. Cash donations, non-cash amounts, per-donation dates, and charity names all transfer automatically. We handle the format's many quirks behind the scenes—CRLF line endings, header terminators, the TD+TS record pairing needed for date parsing, and filtering out stock donations that TurboTax would silently drop. You may still need to manually add item descriptions and Form 8283 details for high-value donations.

3. Automated Entry (TurboTax)

For TurboTax Online, our Chrome extension automates the TurboTax flow screen by screen—filling in charity names, amounts, dates, donation types, item descriptions, fair market values, charity addresses, and Form 8283 details including stock donations and items over $500 that TXF can't represent.

For TurboTax Desktop on Mac and Windows, our companion app (Tax Helper) does the same thing natively—automating the desktop application directly.

A few fields TurboTax asks for aren't in our dataset—things like cost basis for non-stock items, how the charity plans to use a donated item, and appraisal details for high-value property. For these, automated entry gets you to the point where you just need to review and fill in the gaps, rather than typing every field from scratch.

How DeductIt handles each platform

What's Coming Next

The donation import gap in tax software isn't going to fix itself overnight. Here's what we're working on:

Automated entry for more platforms

H&R Block, FreeTaxUSA, and the other major online platforms all have the same problem: no import capability. We're extending our browser automation approach to cover these platforms, starting with H&R Block Online.

FDX JSON export (future-proofing)

The Financial Data Exchange (FDX) has published API 4.2, a modern JSON-based standard meant to replace TXF. It covers 51 IRS form types, including charitable contributions. No consumer tax software supports it yet, but it's where the industry is heading. We plan to be ready when they catch up.

Tax preparer package

Many people hand their records to a CPA or tax preparer. We're refining our export to produce a "tax preparer ready" package—a summary organized by Schedule A and Form 8283 categories, with supporting documentation and receipts, in a format that saves your preparer time and you money.

2026 Tax Law Changes: More People Need to Track Donations

Starting with the 2026 tax year, new rules make donation tracking relevant to a much larger group of taxpayers:

• Non-itemizers can now deduct donations. Single filers can claim up to $1,000 and joint filers up to $2,000 in cash charitable contributions as an above-the-line deduction—no itemizing required. This is the first time since 2021 that non-itemizers have gotten a charitable deduction.
• Itemizers face a new floor. If you do itemize, only charitable contributions exceeding 0.5% of your adjusted gross income are deductible. That means you need to know your exact total.
• More people will itemize. The new $40,000 SALT deduction cap (up from $10,000) means millions more taxpayers will benefit from itemizing, making their charitable donation records suddenly relevant to their tax bill.

The bottom line: whether you itemize or not, tracking your donations now has real tax value. And getting that data into your tax software shouldn't require typing it all in by hand.

What You Can Do Today

If you're filing your 2025 taxes right now, here's the quick version:

• TurboTax Online: Use DeductIt's automated entry via our Chrome extension—it fills in every field for you. Full guide here.
• TurboTax Desktop (Mac/Windows): Use our Tax Helper app for automated entry, or import a TXF file for cash and non-cash amounts. Full guide here.
• H&R Block Desktop: Import a TXF file for totals. Use the copy/paste guide for per-charity detail.
• H&R Block Online, FreeTaxUSA, TaxAct, TaxSlayer: Use the copy/paste guide as your reference while entering donations. Automated entry coming soon.
• Tax preparer: Export the PDF report and receipts ZIP to share with your CPA.

We believe getting your donations into tax software should be as easy as importing a W-2. The tax software industry hasn't caught up yet, but we're building the bridges to get you there.

— The Foothill AI Team