Do you do your own taxes?

So per the regulations above, the amount you can claim if you are itemizing deductions depends on the type of charitable contribution and your adjusted gross income. There is no specific $$ limit. In 2020, and only in 2020, you could potentially deduct up to 100% of AGI.

If you are not itemizing and instead using the standard deduction, you could still separately deduct up to $600 (for a married couple) of cash charitable contributions. This was a temporary deal from the CARES Act for 2020 and 2021 only.

TT told us we were better off doing the standard deduction. We donā€™t have mortgage interest. Soā€¦Iā€™m guessing that means our charitable contributions were limited to $600. Is that correct?

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Yes, thatā€™s correct. Same for us, although we are better off itemizing for the State of California taxes.

And this was temporary so no use in future tax planning.

Thanksā€¦I was pretty sure I was rightā€¦but this other person was adamant that I should have been able to deduct ALL of my charitable contributions. And also that donations of goods countedā€¦and I donā€™t think they even did in 2020. It was cash donations.

Tax laws and charitable deductions have been veryā€¦.fluid, shall we say, in the last couple of years. Tax forms look different too, just for fun. Iā€™m no tax expert but have studied it once upon a time, and had an early career dealing with government forms and regulations. So my understanding is somewhere between average taxpayer and tax accountant. But I rely on my H&R Block tax software.

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