Are charitable contributions deductible?
Charitable contributions are treated as “itemized deductions”. They are added to
the rest of your itemized deductions to see if they exceed the “standard
deduction” afforded all individual taxpayers. The standard deduction for 2024:
Single Married
Taxpayer(s) under age 65 $14,600 $29,200
Taxpayer(s) 65 and over $16,550 $32,300
Approximately 90% of individual taxpayers claim the standard deduction.
Qualified charitable distribution
Taxpayers 70 ½ or older who have a traditional IRA from which distributions are
taxable, can take a qualified charitable distribution from their IRA. This is a
distribution from their IRA made payable directly to a qualified charity. The
advantage is the distribution is excluded from the taxpayer’s income.
Example: A taxpayer, age 71 takes distributions totaling $10,000 from their IRA
of which $3,000 is made payable directly to a qualified charity. Line 4a on their
tax return indicates $10,000 in total distributions and line 4b indicates $7,000 as
the taxable amount. Make sure your tax return preparer knows of your gift.
To take a qualified charitable distribution, contact the custodian of your IRA.
They can help you with this simple transaction.
Generally, it’s a win – win situation for older taxpayers as they can still claim the
full standard deduction. Contact your tax preparer to see if taking qualified
charitable distributions is advisable for you.
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