When we give a gift, usually that act begins and ends with the gift itself. We usually don’t think about what, if anything, we’ll get out of it. However, charitable gifting<\/strong> allows us to support the causes we hold in high esteem, and in many cases, see a real taxable benefit when all is said and done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, you can always make a gift without claiming it on your tax return. In fact, this ends up being the case for many, particularly those for whom deducting would not be beneficial because charitable deductions need to be itemized<\/strong>. If the value of all your itemized deductions (e.g. your charitable gifts, medical expenses, taxes already paid, etc.) is less than<\/em> your standard deduction, your gift is still doing all the good for the charity, but you won’t be seeing any real tax benefit from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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For example, let’s say you’re married filing jointly in 2022 – if the sum total of all your donations, as well as everything else, was under the $25,900 mark, it wouldn’t be worthwhile to itemize. So if you donate with the intent to take deduct the said amount on your taxes, just be wary of whether or not your total itemized deductions exceed that standard deduction. With all that said, let’s take a look at how you can make an eligible charitable gift:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We’ll start by outlining who counts for charitable gifting<\/strong>: For a gift to count, it will need to go to a nonprofit – gifts to individuals, political campaigns, etc. won’t make the cut. So, you can give to a university, but giving your nephew money for his tuition doesn’t qualify. In general, a nonprofit will qualify as a potential charitable organization if they have a religious, educational, literary, charitable, or scientific purpose<\/strong> and 501(c)(3) status from the IRS (think your local church, public school, or library). If you’re unsure, the IRS has a handy tool to look for organizations that quality<\/a>, which you can use as a resource to vet and research a given charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n