Box 13 · code A
K-1 box 13 code A: cash contributions and the 60% limit
Code A is a cash contribution, and the number in brackets is not decoration: the letter carries the AGI limit that applies to it. Enter it under a different letter and the limit moves.
The wording on the form is: Cash contributions (60%). Read against the year printed in the K-1 header, because the letters are reassigned between years.
Where the letter goes
Schedule A, line 11, subject to the 60% of adjusted gross income limit.
Contributions are split by what was given and by the limit that applies to it. The partnership made that split when it chose the letter, and the partner is not free to re-choose it.
What has to be true before any of it can be claimed
- The partner itemizes. A charitable deduction on Schedule A does nothing for a partner taking the standard deduction.
- The partner's own AGI limit has room. The 60% ceiling is applied at the partner level against the partner's AGI, not against the partnership's.
- The gift was cash. Code A is cash; property belongs under C, D, E or F, each with its own limit.
What the statement has to show
Small contributions print directly. Where the partnership attaches a statement, every line that belongs to A has to sum to the amount printed beside the letter — and a statement that mixes cash and property lines belongs to more than one letter.
What goes wrong, and the shape of it
- A entered under B or G. The AGI limit changes with the letter. A cash gift entered at 30% understates what the client can deduct this year and creates a carryforward that does not exist.
- The seven contribution letters collapsed into one. A through G are not synonyms. Each carries a different limit, and a single column destroys the only information the letter was carrying.
- The amount entered twice. The same contribution can reach a return through box 13 and through a statement the preparer also enters. Two entries from one gift is a deduction the partner did not make.
What the reading step does here, and what it does not
K1 FastTax reads code A and its amount as printed, keeps the letter as the key, and records the page. It does not apply the AGI limitation, which depends on the partner's full return.
The rest of box 13 is in the full box 13 code list , and the printed wording of the box itself is on the box 13 page . This page describes where a code goes; it is not tax advice, and the Partner's Instructions for the year on your K-1 are the authority.
Plain answers
Questions about box 13 code A
What is K-1 box 13 code A?
A cash contribution, subject to the 60% of AGI limit. The partnership is passing through a charitable gift made in cash, and the letter encodes which limit applies to it.
Why is the percentage part of the code?
Because the letter is how the partnership tells the partner which ceiling applies. Code A is 60%, code B is 30%, and the noncash letters carry their own limits. The percentage is the reason the letters exist.
Can a partner deduct the full box 13 amount?
Only to the extent the partner's own adjusted gross income allows. The limit is applied against the partner's return, not against the partnership's, and any excess generally carries forward.
What if the K-1 has several contribution letters?
Enter them separately. Each letter has its own limit, and a combined total cannot be split back into the letters afterwards without going back to the paper.
Read box 13 code A from your own K-1
K1 FastTax keeps the letter, the amount and the page together, keeps a statement reference as STMT rather than zero, and records which rows a person checked.