No you do not, however I would enter them to make sure you are receiving the maximum deduction.
Also, Those who take the standard deduction usually are not able to take a tax deduction for their donations, however, under the CARES Act, there is the addition of a new charitable deduction up to $300 on your 2020 taxes for your cash donations made to a 501(c)(3) organization even if you don’t itemize your deductions. This will be something for taxpayers to keep in mind since close to 90% of taxpayers now claim the standard deduction instead of itemizing and are no longer able to deduct charitable contributions under tax reform.
Tax season pressure may tempt you to accept the standard tax deduction, rather than exploring the potential benefit of itemizing your deductions. To figure out whether itemizing would be profitable for you, you need to determine whether the allowable expenses you paid during the year—for things like home mortgage interest and property taxes, state income or sales taxes, medical expenses, charitable donations, etc.—exceed the standard deduction for your filing status.
Here are the basic numbers to beat for 2020 returns:
- Standard deduction for single taxpayers—$12,400
- Standard deduction for married taxpayers filing a joint return—$24,800
- Standard deduction for head of household taxpayers—$18,650
Those are the numbers for most of us, but some people get even higher standard deductions. If you're 65 or older or blind, you get to increase your standard tax deduction by the amount listed below.
