Maximum Tax Discount on Charitable Donation in USA

The tax deduction will reduce the total income for the year which will be subjected to taxes. Taxpayers need to know how income tax is calculated to understand the benefit that deductions usually give to your taxes.

People usually expect huge deductions on their charitable donations but in reality, the IRS won’t give you a tax relief of $1 on every dollar that you have donated. Charitable deductions will reduce your tax bill to some extent like a quarter dollar or so for every dollar that you donate. Still, charitable donations offer a tempting bonus and some decent savings.

Consider this example.

Robin’s taxableincome is $80,000. (Let’s not bother abouthis personal deductions or other tax issues right now which wouldotherwise complicate the calculation at this level.)  Now Robin needs to find out how much taxes he will be paying on his income by checking out the tax brackets for 2018 which are as followed for the single filers:

10%on income up to $9,525

12%over income $9,525 to $38,700

22%overincome $38,700 to $82,500

24% overincome $82,500 to $157,500

32%overincome $157,500 to $200,000

35%overincome $200,000 to $500,000

37%overincome $500,000

Robin falls in the $38,700 to $82,500 bracket, which means he has to pay 22% of that portion of his income in taxes. So he will have to pay $17,600 for this bracket (22% of $80,000).

How to Make Sure Your Charity Donations are Tax Deductible in USA

If Robin wants he can lower that amount through deductions. The USA government allows its citizens to take a standard deduction each year on taxes. For 2018, that amount of standard deduction is $12,000 for a single person. This deduction will work when he will subtract that amount from the total amount of income he has earned for the year. So, Robin’s income for tax purposes will be $(80000-12000) or $68,000. If he takes the standard deduction only he will pay $(22% of 68,000) or $14,960 as income taxes to the IRS.

Charitable deductions also work in the same way.Robin donates $6,000 to a church and $4,000 to a charitable organization and another $4,000 to a veteran organization. That’s a total of $14,000 in charitable donations.

As Robin makes $80,000 a year, he can either deduce his standard deduction ($12,000) or he can subtract his charitable donations ($14,000). If he chooses to subtract his charitable deductions hisfinal taxable income will be ($80,000-14,000) or $66,000.

Robin still falls in the 22% tax bracket so he will be paying (22% of $66,000) or $14,550 to the federal government as taxes. So his charitable deductions will only save him $400 on his tax bills.

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More about Less Known Deductions:

Wealthy taxpayers who spend thousands of dollars every yearfor charitable purposes may not be impactedby the tax reformation law in 2018 because it will still be profitable for them to itemize. However, average taxpayers or small donors may not benefit from itemizing their gifts as the standard deduction scale has risen higher.

If you are interested in getting more tax discounts on your taxable income you should claim as much deductions as possible. Charitable donations will give you more benefits from your tax deduction if it is coupled with other deductions, such as sales or state tax, insurance premiums, home mortgage interest etc.

 If you fall in the higher tax bracket, your deductions will become more valuable. Therefore, it is important to get to know about all the tax deduction categories offered by the IRS and claim all of the ones you’re suitable for.

If your personal expenditures like medical or dental expenses surpass 10% of your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) you can deduct these costs from your tax bill. Again if you have a student loan the IRS will allow you to deduct up to $2,500 in interest in your tax statements.

If you move from one area to another during a given tax year for joining a new workplace the IRS will allow you to deduct the expenses of relocating provided that you have met all the applicable conditions in this criteria.

Some tax deductions carry lots of  restrictions and require the taxpayer to fulfill all its conditions.These categories are less preferred by the taxpayers for a tax deduction but if you want to benefit from your tax discount you should take a look at all these categories to see whether you are eligible or not.

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