How Do You Report Donations To Charity When Filing Your Income Taxes

So you donated to a charity. Now, how do you report your donations to charity when filing your income taxes? Is your donation to charity income tax deductible? First of all, you have to itemize your tax deductions if you want to report donations to charity. This means that instead of taking the standard deduction for your tax bracket, you have to claim all of your deductible expenses.

Additionally, the charity has to be an approved tax deductible donation. Not all charity donations are income tax deductible, so make sure that yours is before you go trying to file your income taxes with a charity deduction!

Where to Report Charity Donations when Filing Income Taxes

When filing your income taxes, assuming you have itemized your deductions and that your charity donation is qualified to be an income tax deduction, you can file your charity donation deduction with form 1040, schedule A. As long as everything is properly inline, and you have all of your charity donation records, you will be able to deduct the donation from your taxable income and thus lower your income tax expenses.

Rules on Reporting Donations When Filing your Income Taxes

• You must have actually made a donation. A pledge to donate is not income tax deductible.
• You must have receipts, or some other kind of proof, to show that you donated to charity in order to deduct donations from your income tax liability.
• If you donating property, you need record of the appraisal of the value of your donated property.
• For all cash donations over $250 dollars, you absolutely must have records indicating the name of the charity, the date of the charity, and the amount.
• If you make non-cash contributions greater than $500, you need to attach IRS form 8283

Limitations on Tax Deductible Donations to Charity

Generally, you may report up to 50% of your taxable income as donated to charity, if they are cash donations. For property donations, you can deduct up to 30% of your taxable income. For capitals gains assets, you can deduct up to 20% of your taxable income for reporting charity donations.