Still Time to Take advantage of the

SPECIAL TAX BENEFITS AVAILABLE THIS YEAR!

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Did You Know? A Brief Summary…

The CARES Act provides a $300 above-the-line deduction for charitable cash gifts for taxpayers who are not itemizing their deductions. Everyone who made a gift up to $300 IS entitled to this deduction whether they itemize or not.

However, it does NOT mean that married couples filing jointly can claim up to $600. It’s capped at $300, regardless of filing status.

For more information, see the 2020 IRS Form 1040. On page 29, it reads “If you don’t itemize deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040), you (or you and your spouse if filing jointly) can take a charitable deduction of up to $300 for cash contributions made in 2020…Enter the total amount of your contributions on line 10b. Don’t enter more than $300.”

(This summary provided by Shadowcliff friend, Caroline Stein, Stein Strategies)

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Read on for a More In-Depth Analysis

Why The Change Was Necessary

The tax reform bill that passed in 2017 essentially doubled the standard deduction for individual and joint tax filers. One of the most substantial consequences of that change was that the percentage of taxpayers who itemize their deductions went from around 35% to 6%. Though the vast majority of people saw their tax burden go down, it also meant that over 95% of taxpayers could no longer write off their gifts to charity.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act creates two, temporary changes to the tax treatment of such donations. One is a universal deduction targeted primarily at the 90+% of standard deduction taxpayers, and the other is meant to incentivize the remaining high income givers and corporations.

Two New Tax Benefits to Donors

Universal Deduction for Donations Up to $300

For the over 9 out of 10 people who no longer itemize their charitable giving, the CARES Act will allow these individual taxpayers to deduct donations to charity of up to $300 on their 2020 federal tax return, even though they take the standard deduction. Married-filing-jointly taxpayers do not get a bump to $600, however. $300 is the maximum above-the-line deduction per return.

Raising the Charitable Giving Deduction Cap

For those donors who are still able to itemize their deductions, and therefore directly write off gifts to charity, the current deduction cap is 60% of adjusted gross income*. Corporations are able to deduct charitable donations up to 10% of taxable income.

*The 60% of AGI limit is for giving to 501(c)(3) public charities. The deductibility of gifts to 501(c)(3) private foundations is capped at 30%, and was not included in this legislation.

The CARES Act lifts these caps to 100% for individuals and joint filers, while corporations will see their cap lifted to 25% for 2020. These are truly substantial changes to the tax treatment of donations. For individuals, it could theoretically mean zero taxable income if someone gives big.

For example, if John Taxpayer has an AGI of $175,000, he would normally be able deduct up to $105,000 for gifts to charity. With the temporary changes in the CARES Act, John could now deduct up to his full AGI of $175,000 if he gives that much to charity in 2020. The math works the same way for corporations.

An interesting side note is that the deductibility cap for donations to Donor Advised Funds wasn’t included, even though they technically qualify as public charities.

The window for taking advantage of these changes closes on December 31, 2020.

(This information provided by Shadowcliff friend, Karen Bigelow.)