{"id":1878,"date":"2021-11-29T10:23:52","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T15:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/?p=1878"},"modified":"2021-11-29T10:23:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T15:23:54","slug":"give-to-charity-and-get-a-small-tax-break-even-if-you-dont-itemize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/give-to-charity-and-get-a-small-tax-break-even-if-you-dont-itemize\/","title":{"rendered":"Give to Charity and get a Small Tax Break \u2013 even if you don\u2019t itemize!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>I\u2019m talking to a lot of clients this month about charitable giving and how to give in the most tax-efficient way possible.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since Tax Reform took effect in 2018\u00a0<strong>fewer taxpayers are getting a deduction for their charitable contributions.\u00a0<\/strong>Donations to charity are\u00a0<strong>deducted when a taxpayer itemizes deductions.<\/strong><br><br>After Tax Reform far fewer people itemize.\u00a0<strong>Only about 10% of taxpayers now itemize. The other \u224890% take the standard deduction.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/donate.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/donate.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1879\" width=\"368\" height=\"246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/donate.jpg 709w, https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/donate-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/donate-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/donate-272x182.jpg 272w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But in 2020 Congress&nbsp;<strong><em>added<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>a<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>ne<\/em><em>w tax break<\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong>for charitable contributions made by taxpayers taking the standard deduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020 these taxpayers got to deduct $300 in charitable donations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, 2021, single tax filers can again claim a deduction of up to $300. For&nbsp;<strong>married taxpayers who file jointly the deduction is boosted to $600<\/strong>. These tax returns will be filed in 2022.<br><br><strong>The details:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>The donation must be made in 2021<\/strong><br>&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>The donation must be cash<\/strong><ul><li>You can use actual cash, check, debit\/credit card, electronic fund transfer, or payroll deduction.<\/li><li><strong>Non-cash donations such as used clothing or appreciated stock cannot be used,<\/strong>&nbsp;however, these can still be used by taxpayers who are itemizing.<br>&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>The recipient must be a 501(c)(3) public charity<\/strong><ul><li>To find out ask the charity, or<\/li><li>&nbsp;Check the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/briofp.us4.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=5a3c476887987f2383d1d3761&amp;id=85f16930f5&amp;e=c18fadfc9a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IRS Tax Exempt database<\/a><br>&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Documentation needed:<\/strong><ul><li>You must have&nbsp;<strong>one<\/strong>&nbsp;of the following for any single donation&nbsp;<strong>less than $250:<\/strong><ul><li>A bank record such as canceled check, bank statement, or credit card statement that shows the name of the qualified organization, the date, and amount of the contribution.&nbsp;\u2013OR\u2014<\/li><li>A receipt (or letter or other written communication such as email) from the qualified organization showing the name of the qualified organization, the date, and amount of the contribution.<br>&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>For any single donation<strong>&nbsp;greater than $250&nbsp;<\/strong>you must have:<ul><li>\u201cContemporaneous written acknowledgement\u201d of your contribution from the qualified organization.&nbsp;<ul><li>Contemporaneous means you received it before the due date of the tax return.<\/li><li>This written acknowledgement must include the date and amount of the contribution AND whether you received any goods or services as a result of your contribution.<ul><li>If you received any goods or services the acknowledgement must have a description and good faith estimate of the value of these items.&nbsp;Those amounts are&nbsp;<strong>not<\/strong>&nbsp;deductible.<br>&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Note:&nbsp;you should keep the documentation, but it does not have to be filed with your return.<br>&nbsp;<\/li><li>Note:&nbsp;the crumpled $10 bill you tossed in the church collection plate&nbsp;<strong><em>does not qualify.<\/em><\/strong><ul><li>I get pushback about this all the time!<\/li><li>If you give actual cold hard cash,&nbsp;<strong>you need a written receipt.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The actual value of this $300 or $600 deduction is not huge<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 the amount of tax saved depends on your tax bracket. For example, if you are Married Filing Jointly in the 22% bracket, the amount of tax saved on the maximum $600 deduction is $132.<strong>**<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Research shows that tax savings is not a primary motivator for charitable giving.&nbsp;<strong>However, giving in a tax-efficient manner means you have more dollars to give.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I love helping people figure out how to give more.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are so many organizations doing good things, and many of them are having a hard time.&nbsp;<strong>If you are able, I encourage you to help however you can.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>**<\/strong>For the tax nerds, last year this deduction was \u201cabove-the-line\u201d: it lowered Adjusted Gross Income which in turn could affect other AGI-dependent calculations. This year, however, the deduction is below-the-line and does not affect AGI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m talking to a lot of clients this month about charitable giving and how to give in the most tax-efficient way possible.&nbsp; Since Tax Reform took effect in 2018\u00a0fewer taxpayers are getting a deduction for their charitable contributions.\u00a0Donations to charity are\u00a0deducted when a taxpayer itemizes deductions. After Tax Reform far fewer people itemize.\u00a0Only about 10% [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Michelle Morris","author_link":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/author\/briofp1\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1880,"href":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878\/revisions\/1880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briofp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}