During the holiday season, many people look for ways to combine their desire to help causes they believe in with the benefit to save on taxes. We can help you think strategically about how you give and how to make our community a better place. We work to ensure that your donations make the greatest impact on the causes you care about while maximizing your tax advantages. Even with the increased standard deduction, there are still tax-wise ways you can give to your favorite causes.
Generally, if you itemize your deductions, making charitable contributions can decrease your taxes, because high‐income earners generally pay tax at higher rates, they may enjoy a particularly large tax benefit from charitable contributions.
A simple, flexible and tax-efficient way to give to your favorite charities.
A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is a charitable investment account, for the purpose of supporting charitable organizations you care about throughout the U.S. The fund is established by making a contribution of cash, securities or other assets at Hudson Community Foundation. Establishing a DAF allows you to make a gift and qualify for a charitable deduction immediately without needing to decide where to gift. You can make grants on a flexible timetable, build your charitable legacy, and increase your philanthropic funds for future grantmaking. Setting up a Donor Advised Fund with Hudson Community Foundation (HCF) is simple and straightforward. A minimum of $5,000 to open a fund. No cost to set up. Grows tax free! You decide when to grant (allocate funds to charities) anywhere in the United States. One tax receipt for your charitable giving.
Donations made by cash or check are, by far, the most common methods of charitable giving. However, contributing stocks, bonds, or mutual funds that have appreciated over time has become popular, and for good reason. Most publicly traded securities may be donated to a public charity. If the security has been held for more than one year when the donation is made, the donor can claim the fair market value as an itemized deduction on their federal income tax return (assuming they itemize their deductions). The amount deducted in a single year can be up to 30% of the donor’s adjusted gross income (AGI). Other types of securities, such as restricted or privately traded securities, may also be deductible, but additional requirements and limitations may apply. No capital gains taxes are owed when the securities are donated, not sold.
If you are at least age 70 ½ and have an IRA, and plan to donate to charity this year, another consideration may be to make a QCD from your IRA. This action can satisfy charitable goals and allows funds to be withdrawn from an IRA without any tax consequences. A QCD can also be used to satisfy your required minimum distribution (RMD)—up to $105,000.
QCDs may be particularly appealing if you have few other itemized deductions or if you are already close to your charitable deduction limitations. Because the tax-free QCD is never reported as income or as a deduction, it is not counted against the charitable limits and does not require itemization to be effective.
So, if you are subject to an RMD, don’t need the funds, and would face increased income tax liabilities if you took the entire RMD, a QCD can yield both a good tax and philanthropic result.
Hudson Community Foundation has solutions for you! Contact us to learn about the great ways to turn your IRA into charitable-giving solutions and avoid taxes on qualified amounts you are required to take as an RMD.
Also, if your 59 1/2 or older with tax-deferred retirement account, IRS, consider if a charitable donation and therefore, charitable deduction if you itemize your taxes – can help you offset tax liabilities on account withdrawals.
The 2017 tax laws simplified tax filing for many people by increasing the standard deduction and capping many itemized deductions. This means some filers who used to itemize may no longer need to do so, it became difficult for those filers to get a tax deduction for their charitable contributions.
To make the most of the potential tax deductions, consider “bunching.” That means concentrating deductions in a single year, then skipping one or even several years. This strategy can work well when your total itemized deductions for a single year fall below the standard deduction: Charitable contributions to a DAF at Hudson Community Foundation made at once may allow the total of itemized deductions to exceed the standard deduction, making it possible to obtain a tax deduction for at least part of the charitable contributions. The catch is that this strategy requires having the financial capacity to pack more than years’ worth of your contributions into a single year.
Plus, remember that funds in a DAF account can be invested for potential tax-free growth, potentially generating more funds for granting to charities over time.
The Hudson Community Foundation (HCF) Annual Fund receives gifts from people like you to make a big impact on the critical needs of Hudsonites. This year, we are supporting vital human services through our grants to organizations that included Greenleaf Family Center for adolescent suicide prevention programs in local schools, Habitat for Humanity for homes being built by Hudson volunteers, Hudson City Schools – Drug Free Club of America program, GriefCare Place providing grief counseling for their no cost programs.
A gift to the HCF Annual Fund is an easy and powerful way to help many organizations doing good locally. With you help, we can say “Yes!” to more projects that make life better in Hudson.