Claim your charitable donations on your taxes in 2019

Taking a charitable donation deduction

The charitable donation deduction allows you to lower your taxable income for donations or gifts to qualified, tax-exempt organizations. To get the deduction, you must file Form 1040, the form you use for an individual or joint income tax return. You also must itemize your deductions on Schedule A on Form 1040.

If you choose to itemize your deductions for the 2018 tax year, there are still rules around what you can and can’t deduct — and how much — when it comes to charitable donations. Understanding these requirements could help you maximize your deductions and lower your taxable income.

What can you deduct?

First, it’s important to understand that only donations to qualified tax-exempt organizations count.

Religious organizations, veterans organizations and community organizations often qualify as tax exempt, but you can definitively find out which organizations have this status by using the IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization Search.

If the organization qualifies, also make sure that your donation or gift qualifies too.

The federal government allows you to deduct a charitable donation to a qualified organization if you don’t benefit or get anything in return for the donation.

Among organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable donations are churches, temples, mosques or other religious organizations; nonprofit schools or hospitals; the United Way, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America, Boys and Girls Clubs of America; and veterans groups and organizations, including the Salvation Army, American Red Cross, CARE and Goodwill Industries.

You also can deduct donations made to federal, state and local governments for public purposes — for example, donating to a fund to rehab a public park. Any expenses you incur as a volunteer for a qualified organization are deductible too.

You also can get a deduction for the donation of a qualified vehicle, including a car, boat or airplane. If you want to take a deduction of more than $500, you can deduct either the lesser of the gross proceeds of the sale of the vehicle once the organization sells it or the fair market value of the vehicle when you donated it.