The donations summary my wife & I, shows my wife has tax owing. Owing amounts should appear in brackets but it doesn't. It messes with the Optimizer. Who can fix this?

[TurboTaxHeba]

The optimizer works fine. The brackets are just for display and do not affect the calculations in the background. The first summary page of the "Maximizing Your Charitable Donations" will summarize your entries. When you finish your optimization selections, the second page will show the balance owed in brackets:

If you reported your donations and used the optimizer but still don't see the donation amount in any of the detailed tax summaries, it means that the software found that claiming this amount will not change the final result of the refund or balance due. So it either removes it or claims the necessary portion only. 

I hope this was helpful

[mcmurre]

Just to clarify:

In your sample below as a reference, Sally owes or has a balance owing. Her owing amount is shown in (brackets). In my and my wife’s optimizer summary, she has a balance owing - However, her balance is NOT shown in brackets. Why not? 

In viewing the detailed tax summary I can see that her amount owing for CPP from self employed earnings equals this unbracketed amount owing in the optimizer. I understand from that, that no matter that she has unused charitable contributions, it will not alter the amount of CPP due. In sum, I know the optimizer has in fact worked correctly, but I don’t understand why my wife’s balance owing is not shown in brackets.... thank you.

[TurboTaxHeba]

There are two pages on the donation optimizer, the first page will not show the owing balance in brackets, the second page after the optimizer is completed will.

The donations are part of the non-refundable tax credit, it will reduce the taxable income only. However, it has no effect on the CPP payable for self-employed since this amount is added later in the calculation.

I hope this was helpful