Current Events > Fun fact: donating to charity for the tax break is a terrible strategy.

(+) Yeah! (+)

If you know anyone who is doing this, stop them and show them their own tax return from last year.

If you know any rich people who are donating to charity, I guarantee you their accountants are much too smart to let them do it for any reason other than actual charity.

Or maybe publicity.

What about donating to charity because it's the right thing? >_>

DKBananaSlamma posted...

What about donating to charity because it's the right thing? >_>

I know, imagine that.

It's because it's an itemized deduction.
You can only take either the standard deduction, or your itemized deduction.
If all you are itemizing is donations to charity, it is extremely unlikely that it'll be higher than the standard deduction.

Turbam posted...

It's because it's an itemized deduction.
You can only take either the standard deduction, or your itemized deduction.
If all you are itemizing is donations to charity, it is extremely unlikely that it'll be higher than the standard deduction.

That is not even close to the only reason.

If rich people want to donate to charity for the tax break/publicity, I'm actually pretty fine with it because the charity still gets their money. Kind of a win-win situation.

As long as it's not an awful charity, of course.

what if i need to lower my income by $1k to qualify for a Roth IRA contribution?

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

That is not even close to the only reason.

can you please explain them, since the rest of us aren't as knowledgeable?

Guys, we live on planet earth, and like with most things here, it just kinda depends on the situation.

You clearly don't know how to rich person.

1. Start a charitable foundation with myself as the sole head thereof.
2. Donate a bunch of money tax free
3. Spend that money on shit I like as part of the foundations "charitable" work.
4. Convince suckers in the public sector to donate even more money for me to spend.

^ literally the Trump family

realnifty1 posted...

You clearly don't know how to rich person.

1. Start a charitable foundation with myself as the sole head thereof.
2. Donate a bunch of money tax free
3. Spend that money on shit I like as part of the foundations "charitable" work.
4. Convince suckers in the public sector to donate even more money for me to spend.

I'm donating to myself and I'm also getting a tax break

Giant_Aspirin posted...

what if i need to lower my income by $1k to qualify for a Roth IRA contribution?

Good question. This might be a fringe case in which it could help. I hadn't thought of that.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

can you please explain them, since the rest of us aren't as knowledgeable?

The short of it is, it's not a 1:1 deduction. There are limits and rates and such that ensure it.

No one is donating cash to charity for the tax write off, lol

The amount we donate (money and items), along with retirement saving and mortgage interest, makes itemizing a better choice for us. It's not a way to "come out ahead"; it's a way to not have to pay taxes on money that isn't "yours" (because you gave it away).

Solid_Snake07 posted...

No one is donating cash to charity for the tax write off, lol

Exactly.

I donate to some charities because I support the cause or the people sponsoring them. Sure Ill take the tax receipt but thats hardly the motivation.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

what if i need to lower my income by $1k to qualify for a Roth IRA contribution?

Do a backdoor roth IRA instead

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

If you know anyone who is doing this, stop them and show them their own tax return from last year.

If you know any rich people who are donating to charity, I guarantee you their accountants are much too smart to let them do it for any reason other than actual charity.

Or maybe publicity.

It depends on your tax laws. There's a wildlife conservation charity in GA you can donate to that lets you deduct more than you donate. This can be used to lower your tax bracket to pay even less taxes and meanwhile the money is going to good environmental causes.

Depending on how much money you make this might be a good strategy or at worst a way to redirect your tax money into something you care about personally rather than whatever the state / irs says it should go to.

And rich people do everything they can to dodge taxes. They aren't paying them.

Tyranthraxus posted...

This can be used to lower your tax bracket to pay even less taxes and meanwhile the money is going to good environmental causes.

There is a common misconception around this, but that is not how tax brackets work. The tax rate on a bracket is only applied to the money in the range of that bracket, not all the money you earned.

Simple demonstrative example; there are two tax brackets, 10% for 0-100,000 and 20% for 100,000+
If you earned 150,000 dollars you do not owe 30,000 (20%) of that, you owe 10% on the first 100,000 and 20% of the 50,0000 making your tax bill 20,000. Doing things to lower the tax bracket does not change your actual rate you are paying on a dollar for dollar basis.

Can you donate to charity to get a lower tax bracket? I dunno how taxes work.

realnifty1 posted...

1. Start a charitable foundation with myself as the sole head thereof.
2. Donate a bunch of money tax free
3. Spend that money on shit I like as part of the foundations "charitable" work.
4. Convince suckers in the public sector to donate even more money for me to spend.

this pretty much

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

Or maybe publicity.

and this

David1988 posted...

Can you donate to charity to get a lower tax bracket? I dunno how taxes work.

income tax is based upon what bracket that income falls within, not what your total income falls within.

for instance, the biggest tax jump is somewhere around 45k, where your tax rate goes from 12% to 22%. So if you made 46k you would only be taxed 22% on the 1k that you made over the 45k bracket shift. Whatever income you made between 11k and 45k tax bracket would be taxed at 12% and so on and so forth