If you donate regularly to charity, you may want to take advantage of the charitable contribution deduction, an incentive that could significantly lower your taxable income.
This article explains what the charitable contribution deduction is, how it works, and what to consider as you prepare to file for the 2025 tax year.
A charitable donation is a voluntary gift to a tax-exempt organization, for which you didn’t receive a benefit in return. The gift can be money or property, such as a car, clothing, or furniture. You may also be able to deduct certain expenses related to volunteer work.
However, a major qualification for a charitable gift is that it’s not set aside for individual use.
“Gifts to individuals, like GoFundMe campaigns for medical bills, don’t qualify,” said Gregory Monaco, CPA and founding principal at Monaco CPA, in an email to Yahoo Finance. “For example, if you write a check to a church for a specific person, such as ‘for the Johnson family’ or the charity sends your donation to someone you pick, the IRS sees it as a personal gift, not a charitable contribution.”
Tax-exempt organizations must meet the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirements. The IRS includes these groups in its list of qualified organizations:
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U.S.-based charities
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U.S. government entities
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Veterans’ groups
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Fraternal societies
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Nonprofit cemeteries
Donations to qualified, tax-exempt organizations are tax-deductible up to a percentage of your adjusted gross income (AGI), which is all the money you make in income minus certain adjustments.
Generally, you can deduct up to 60% of your AGI. However, depending on the type of contribution and organization, you could be limited to 50%, 30%, or even 20% of your AGI.
Filers can typically deduct the most for gifts to organizations that fall within the IRS-defined “50% limit” category. This includes churches, schools, hospitals, and other public charities and foundations. Donations to qualified organizations outside of this category have lower limits.
Your deduction limit also depends on whether the gift was cash or property, and if the property has capital gains. Deduction limits can be lower if you make donations across the different IRS categories in a given tax year.
If you reach your limit and still have gifts to deduct, you may be able to claim these deductions in future years, for up to five years, in what’s known as a carryover.
Filers who itemize deductions can claim the charitable donation tax deduction. It’s not currently available for non-itemizers, but changes are expected for 2026.
Compared to the standard deduction, itemizing can be more complex and costly. However, the IRS recommends itemizing if your itemized deduction is more than the standard, or if you’re required to itemize for other reasons.
Read more: Standard deduction vs. itemizing: How to decide
These steps can take some of the guesswork out of claiming the charitable contribution deduction. Always consult a tax professional for questions about your situation.
You’ll need documentation for all of your contributions. It can be as straightforward as a bank statement or as involved as a contemporaneous written acknowledgement (CWA) — a letter from the charity with the date and amount of your contribution and whether there was an exchange of goods or services.
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For cash contributions: Include a bank statement, funds transfer receipt, canceled check, or payroll deduction records for gifts less than $250. Cash donations $250 or more require a CWA.
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For noncash deductions: If the value of the gift is less than $250, have a detailed receipt with the name and address of the organization, the date and location where you made the donation, and details of the property given. Donations of $250 or more require a CWA and, potentially, additional tax forms.
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For out-of-pocket expenses: Similar to cash contributions, you can use a bank statement or receipt for qualified, unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses less than $250. If you’re claiming $250 or more, you’ll need an acknowledgement from the organization.
The IRS requires most tax-exempt organizations to submit information annually to maintain their status. If the organization fails to do so for three consecutive years, it automatically loses its tax-exempt status, which means you can’t deduct donations made to it.
It’s a good idea to check an organization’s status at the beginning of the year, but especially before filing your tax return. Use the IRS online tool to search the entity’s name or employer identification number (EIN).
When you itemize your return, you list tax-deductible expenses you incurred throughout the year, like health savings account contributions, student loan interest, and charitable giving — but this doesn’t always make sense for everyone.
“You can get a tax break for charitable donations only if your total itemized deductions are more than the standard deduction,” noted Monaco. “About 90 percent of people do not go over the standard deduction limits, so their donations do not lower their federal taxes.”
Here are the standard deduction limits for both the 2025 and 2026 tax years:
File and submit by the deadline
Include the sum of your charitable donations made within the tax year using IRS Form 1040 Schedule A on lines 11 and 12. If you’re carrying over an amount from previous years, enter it on line 13.
Be sure to file your taxes or request an extension by April 15.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act brings changes to charitable giving tax deductions beginning in the 2026 tax year (which will be filed in April 2027). Changes include:
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Those taking the standard deduction can claim up to $1,000 in charitable contributions if filing single, or $2,000 if married filing jointly. That means even if you don’t itemize, you can take a limited charitable contribution deduction.
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If you’re itemizing, charitable contributions are tax-deductible only if they exceed 0.5% of the filer’s AGI. This new provision creates a “floor” on what’s deductible.
The Tax Foundation provides this example: If a taxpayer with $200,000 in AGI makes $10,000 in charitable giving, the first $1,000 of donations would not be deductible. But anything over that amount — in this case, the remaining $9,000 — would be.
The amount of your savings will depend on several factors, like the type and size of your donation, your tax bracket, and your AGI. There are also limits to how much you can deduct. Common cash donations are usually limited to 60% of your AGI, but other types can have lower deduction limits. The amount you’re allowed to deduct reduces your taxable income, which often translates to a lower tax bill.
For the 2025 tax year, you can only deduct charitable donations if you itemize. However, starting in 2026, single-filer taxpayers who take the standard deduction will also be able to claim charitable giving, up to $1,000 for single filers and up to $2,000 for married filing jointly.
Giving to charity to write off your donation doesn’t add money to your bottom line — it lowers the income you’re taxed on. If you choose to donate to a cause important to you, you can think of the deduction as a bonus.
Starting in 2026, you don’t have to itemize to claim the charitable tax deduction. Those who take the standard deduction can claim up to $1,000 as a single filer (or $2,000 if married and filing jointly). Itemizers, on the other hand, will see new restrictions on what they’re able to deduct, specifically donations that exceed 0.5% of their AGI.
