I was told by a tax professional that if i did not have at least $7700 in charitable donations it did not pay for to claim it? That seems very steep. Does anyone know the reason for this? I make approximately 43,000.
2007-12-18 06:51:05 · 3 answers · asked by Christian girl 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
If you itemize your taxes instead of taking the standard deduction, you can claim all of your donations.
If you do not itemize your taxes, and do take the standard deduction, you can claim 0 of your donations.
Most people think that donations are deductible, but they simply do not have other deductions that would make itemizing worth it. That is probably what your tax professional is getting at.
Itemized things include (among other things):
Charitable Donations
Mortgage Interest
Medical Expenses
They have to all add up to be substantial in order to forgo the standard deduction.
2007-12-18 06:57:07 · answer #1 · answered by Cleobird 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Charitable Contributions are an "Itemized Deduction". The largest itemized deduction by far is home mortgage interest. If you do not own a home and are paying on a mortgage, chances are you will not have enough to itemize by just using state taxes, charitable contributions and misc. deductions.
To get a tax benefit from the itemized deductions, they must be higher than your standard deduction. The standard deduction for Head of Houshold was $7550 for 2006 and $7850 for 2007 so I am not sure where the $7700 comes from.
2007-12-18 15:02:11 · answer #2 · answered by Wayne Z 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
If you are not able to itemized your deductions then you can not deduct any donations. In order to itemized your deductions it has to exceed your standard deduction which is based on your filing status.
2007-12-18 20:45:33 · answer #3 · answered by Gary 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋