- quote -

The deduction for charitable contributions cannot exceed 50%
of the taxpayer's AGI. A reduced limit of 30% or 20% applies
for certain contributions.

Up to 50% of AGI limit. Donation of cash or unappreciated
property to a publicly supported charity or foundation
qualifying as a 50% limit organization (most organizations
know if they are qualifying). Examples of 50% limit
organizations: Churches, religious organizations,
educational organizations, hospitals, medical research
organizations, publicly supported organizations that receive
a substantial amount of support from the general public or
governmental units, private operating foundations, private
nonoperating foundations that distribute 100% of the
contributions to qualified charities within 2½ months after
the end of the tax year, private foundations that pool
contributions into a common fund and allow contributors to
name the charities to receive their gifts if the income is
distributed within 2½ months after the end of the tax year.
Up to 30% of AGI limit:

+ Donation of capital gain property to a 50% limit
organization. Exception: 30% limit does not apply if
election is made to reduce the FMV of the property by the
amount of the long-term capital gain as if the property had
been sold.

+ Donation of any gift (other than capital gain property) to
all qualified organizations other than 50% limit
organizations (includes veterans' organizations, fraternal
societies, nonprofit cemeteries, certain private
nonoperating foundations).

+ Up to 20% of AGI limit. Donation of capital gain property
to all qualified organizations other than 50% limit
organizations. For multiple contributions subject to
different limits, use the worksheet in IRS Publication 526
to compute the deduction.

- quote -

Yes. If you do not itemize your deductions you have no
contribution deduction.

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chrisspencer02[at]yahoo.com wrote:

- quote -

No. A deduction is not a subtraction from the tax but from
tacable income. A CREDIT is a subtraction from the tax.
You have obviously misread or misstated what you have read.

There is one restriction that hasn't been mentioned: All
50% donations are considered used up first, then 30%, then
20%. So, if a person donates 25% of their income to
50%-classed-organizations, and another 5% to 20%-classed,
their deduction for that year is 25% (the actual
contribution, and there's room for 25% more in the 50%-class
or 5% more of the 30%-class), and the 20%-classed item
cannot be taken but carries forward for the next year (and
up to 4 more, if unusable and needed).

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"chrisspencer02[at]yahoo.com" <chrisspencer02[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

You read it incorrectly. You deduct up to 50% of AGI as an
itemized deduction. No more.

--
David M. Woods, EA, ChFC, CLU
Woods Financial Services
Norwood, MA 02062
www.woods-financial.com

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chrisspencer02[at]yahoo.com wrote:

- quote -

You must itemize all deductions to be able to claim
charitable donations. It is either Standard Deduction or
Itemize, your choice.

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chrisspencer02[at]yahoo.com wrote:

- quote -

No, you deduct it from your income. This will reduce the
tax you owe, but only by a percentage of the contribution.
For instance, if you're in the 28% bracket and donate
$1,000, you'll reduce your tax by $280.

- quote -

You have to itemize deductions. If your itemized deductions
are greater than the standard deduction, you get the larger
deduction. This isn't really "giving up" anything -- you're
reducing your tax more than if you hadn't itemized.

--
Barry Margolin, barmar[at]alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA

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hrisspencer02[at]yahoo.com wrote:

- quote -

The deduction is against your income before computing taxes,
and only if you use Schedule A of Form 1040 to claim
itemized deductions.

You do not get to deduct the full amount of your
contributions from taxes due and also do not get to take the
Standard Deduction plus the deduction for charitable
contributions.

--
Vic Roberts
Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

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chrisspencer02[at]yahoo.com writes:

- quote -

No! Not even close.

Charitable contributions do NOT offset tax directly.
Rather, they lower taxable income. So the tax benefit of a
charitable donation is the amount of the donation times your
tax bracket.

- quote -

Generally you can take a *deduction* (not a credit) for
donations of up to 50% of your gross income, if I recall
correctly. But there are different kinds of donations.
Cash donations can go up to 50% of your gross income, but
non-cash donations and donations of appreciated property are
subject to lower limits on deductions (though the excess can
carry over to future years).

- quote -

Again, your concept that charitable contributions offset
taxes dollar-for-dollar is completely in error.

- quote -

Yes.

You either itemize your deductions (charitable contributions
are specific kind of itemized deductions -- there are
others, like mortgage interest, state income tax, and
property tax) or you take the standard deduction. You can't
do both.

--
Rich Carreiro rlcarr[at]animato.arlington.ma.us

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After skimming IRS Publication 526, it appears that one may
donate up to 20% of their income to a qualified charitable
organization, and deduct that entire donation from tax owed?
(And one can donate more than 20%, but there are some
additional restrictions?)

Is that correct? Are there no additional "catches" or
conditions on the 20% writeoff? Must I give up the standard
deduction to claim charitable deductions, for example?
Thanks.

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