I don't understand charitable carryovers. If I didn't itemize past years, I can claim charitable previous contributions in 2020?

[LynnN82]

Charitable contributions in excess of the limit allowed by law for itemized deductions, may generally be carried forward and deducted in later years. However, any carryover would only be the amount that was not deductible as itemized deduction in a prior year. If you did not itemize in the prior year, there would be no carryover. More information is available in IRS Publication 526, starting on Page 14.

[Opus 17]

All deductions must be claimed in the year you actually pay the expense. Charitable contributions must be claimed in the year you make the donation. If the donation is very large, it may not all be allowed in that year, and the remainder can be carried forward. It is not allowable to claim past donations as a current deduction. You are not allowed to take the standard deduction and also stack your donations to claim them all at once when it is worth it. The standard deduction exists so that you get something when your itemized deductions are not large enough,you can’t stack itemized deductions and save them for the future.

[Mjgilli]

I cannot get past the charitable giving section. If I put my actual giving amount the system says it is too high. If I put in 300.00/150.00/0.00 or nothing it still shows me an error. 
And the work around is......?

[Cynthiad66]

 Yes. There is an issue with the contributions deduction and TurboTax is working to fix it.  We do not have an estimated date of correction, at this time.  I suggest you check back often to see if the correction has been made.

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.