2018 Charitable Contributions

[pb4uski]

The higher standard deduction rather than deductions and exemptions will cause many middle income taxpayers to no longer itemize deductions... therefore no longer get a tax benefit from charitable contributions.

A two part poll. If you itemized before do you expect to itemize in 2018? Do you expect to change your chartitable contributions in 2018?

 

[wdberry62]

I did itemize in '16 & '17, but am relatively certain I will not in 2018 because of the higher standard deductions. That has not changed my charitable contributions.

 

[Camellia]

I have not yet determined if we will itemize 2018, but I did significantly reduce my charitable giving this past year, intending to bunch up in 2019 and itemize for certain.

 

[friar1610]

No, don't expect to itemize for the first time in many, many years.

Generally speaking, no change to contributions. One exception: I prepaid 3 years of an annual contribution to one particular charity via transfer of appreciated ETF shares in late 2016 to get in under the wire of the old tax law. So I won't be contributing to them this year or next. When I resume their contribution it will be via QCD.

 

[Midpack]

Well I blew it, didn’t realize I could enter multiple votes. Obviously not good at reading instructions. Sorry...

 

[scrabbler1]

I made a long-postponed donation of old clothes at the end of last year while I still had the chance to deduct it. My charitable donations have returned to their usual levels in 2018.


I hadn't taken the standard deduction since 2013, the year before the ACA's exchanges went into effect. In 2013, I had a bare-bones individual HI policy which was cheap, so I was not itemizing for a few years. But with the new tax law doubling the SD, unless I have a big spike in my medical costs (like I did in 2015 when I was in the hospital), I won't be itemizing again. Sure, I can bunch some of my tax-deductible expenses if I get close to the SD amount, but I'm not there, either.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

-So far, I'm the only one who answered with the second choice listed. And I also expect my contributions to be about the same as the lat few yrs. Since ER began, I also have medical expenses that about equal my charitable contributions, so for this yr I will be able to itemize a good portion of that as well.

edit: refreshed so looks like I'm one of three now

 

[MichaelB]

Well I blew it, didn’t realize I could enter multiple votes. Obviously not good at reading instructions. Sorry...

I didn’t see it either, so I added a reminder to the poll question.

 

[jimandthom]

No, don't expect to itemize for the first time in many, many years.

Generally speaking, no change to contributions. One exception: I prepaid 3 years of an annual contribution to one particular charity via transfer of appreciated ETF shares in late 2016 to get in under the wire of the old tax law. So I won't be contributing to them this year or next. When I resume their contribution it will be via QCD.

Thanks for typing this---saved me the effort--- exactly what we did.

 

[CRLLS]

It was a good thing I came late to this. I read the above comments and made the multiple votes as appropriate.

 

[pb4uski]

I didn’t see it either, so I added a reminder to the poll question.

Thanks... it is the first time that I did a multiple poll... perhaps I should have just done two companion polls.

 

[Clone]

We will take the standard deduction this year (1st time in 40 years). We pulled ahead a number of charitable deductions (as well as property taxes) into the 2017 taxes, so (on paper) this years giving is down. Going forward, it looks like we will have the standard deduction most years, but may lump up some contributions such that we itemize every other year.



The implementation of the changes to the tax policy has introduced an oscillation. I don't know if the system will continue to oscillate, or if it will assume steady state. The average contributions are not decreasing, and will probably increase. We may use a DAF to spike the contribution one year and then distribute the money in an even manner over the next few years.



Lots of moving pieces.

 

[audreyh1]

We heavily pre-loaded our DAF in 2016 and 2017 taking advantage of the ability to deduct contributions of highly appreciated stock.

Now we will be using the standard deduction.

However, we will be contributing out of our DAF for the next 10 years or so, and those contributions will be about the same every year. But since they are out of the DAF they have nothing to do with our itemized deductions.

We likely won't contribute to the DAF again unless we have a large contribution to make one year. But by the time that happens we'll probably have switched to making direct contributions from our IRAs instead.

I found the contribution part of the poll confusing because - we aren't doing charitable contributions directly from our income any longer, but we are doing it from our DAF.

 

[athena53]

I'm single so the higher standard deduction does me little good- my charitable donations alone exceed it. The other items I can deduct (mortgage interest, property taxes, state taxes and medical expenses over the threshold) also add up to more than the standard deduction, so "bunching" is not an option since none of these can be time-shifted.

 

[CardsFan]

We have been using the standard deduction for about 12 years (When the mortgage was paid off). So no change there.

As far as contributions, deductions have never been a consideration. We contribute to charities we believe in. If it is deductible, fine. If not, that's OK too.

 

[Dtail]

Used the standard deduction last year and this year. Managing MAGI, so will pay no taxes this year.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

So a ROM analysis of this so far small sample size appears to indicate that:

previously two thirds did itemize

now two thirds will not itemize

 

[cranberryjoe]

I only voted once, poll was confusing.

I opened a DAF a few weeks ago to push me well over the standard deduction, which I will use for charity donations for many years. Probably the last time I'll itemize until the next tax law change.

 

[bobandsherry]

I donate to charity because I want to support the charity. The deduction didn't really factor in for me.

 

[Ready-4-ER-at-14]

We were downsizing for the last couple of years and donated about half of our possessions to charities during this time including some large ticket items. I kept meticulous records and even had photos of stuff and auction receipts. Some of it was very nice.

This year I asked for no receipts as I expect no tax benefits to charitable donations.

Turbo tax doesn't even have a working schedule A as of 12/13/2018 yet so I won't do any year end donations because I don't know what the bottom line would be.

Frankly I think a lot of charities will have a leaner future.

I gave to some charities just because my perception was they helped the community and I netted about the same after taxes as if I had sold the stuff myself if I considered the time and expenses to advertise, sell, ship and pay tax on the income.


I itemized in the past, and will not this year unless required to or for tax advantage in the future.

 

[Golden sunsets]

DH is over 70.5( and I will be as well in 2019), so we paid out our donations as QCD's from DH's IRA, which has the effect of reducing RMD income and therefore achieves the same tax effect as itemizing.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[audreyh1]

DH is over 70.5( and I will be as well in 2019), so we paid out our donations as QCD's from DH's IRA, which has the effect of reducing RMD income and therefore achieves the same tax effect as itemizing.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

It’s even better as it reduces your MAGI, something that itemized deductions does not do.

 

[Andre1969]

I've always itemized in the past, but was close to doing the standard deduction this year. I had paid off my mortgage early in the year, and the interest portion of it was negligible. State/local and property taxes combined weren't going to even make it to the $10,000 cutoff. So, unless I found another $2-3K worth of deductions, to get me above $12K, itemizing wouldn't have cut it.


But then, I bought a new house in September. Just the first three months of mortgage payments came out to around $5600 in interest. And the additional property tax will easily take me to that $10K SALT threshold.


As for donations, they've stayed the same. I really don't do a whole lot, though. I would always donate to the local fire department, and to Whitman Walker, a non-profit health clinic in DC that specializes in HIV/AIDS healthcare and LGBT healthcare. And, if I have any old clothes, household items, etc, I'll bag the stuff up and do a donation run to GoodWill, rather than just toss the stuff.

 

[RunningBum]

We heavily pre-loaded our DAF in 2016 and 2017 taking advantage of the ability to deduct contributions of highly appreciated stock.

Now we will be using the standard deduction.

However, we will be contributing out of our DAF for the next 10 years or so, and those contributions will be about the same every year. But since they are out of the DAF they have nothing to do with our itemized deductions.

We likely won't contribute to the DAF again unless we have a large contribution to make one year. But by the time that happens we'll probably have switched to making direct contributions from our IRAs instead.

I found the contribution part of the poll confusing because - we aren't doing charitable contributions directly from our income any longer, but we are doing it from our DAF.

Same here, so I just skipped that part.

 

[Golden sunsets]

It’s even better as it reduces your MAGI, something that itemized deductions does not do.

Rightto!