Bunching 2-3 years of charitable contributionsHo

[jamesynot]

I have given almost 2 times the standard deduction in 2023 for the last 3 years combined.  The high standard deduction means they are worthless (less than) for tax credits year by year.  However, if I bunch them, they are more than the standard deduction.  TurboTax does not see to provide for this ability in the app.  Is that true?  How can I bunch charitable deductions for 2023?  I do not see any info on the Schedule A for either for this "bunching" option. 

Reference: https://www.schwabcharitable.org/bunching-charitable-contributions

[robtm]

As far as I know you cannot combine more than 1 year of charitable deductions in any single year. You can only deduct charitable contributions you made in 2023 on your 2023 tax return, you cannot use any contributions you made in 2021 and/or 2022 in 2023.

[Texas Roger]

You cannot combine donations from prior years with current year donations on one tax return. You can only claim the donations in the year they were made. 

[VolvoGirl · Accepted solution]

I read that link.  Schwab means you have to plan ahead and actually make a bigger charity donation in 1 year and then take the Standard Deduction the next year.   So instead of making 10,000 in 2023 & 2024  you would donate 20,000 in 2023 and nothing in 2024.  Like at the end of the year before Dec 31 make the next year's donation so you can bunch it with the 2023 donation.  Too late to do that now for 2023.  

[jamesynot]

What is "bunching" then?  It is described on the Schwab page.

[Critter-3]

If you are 70+ years old and taking RMDs from an IRA  then you can make a direct charitable contribution thru the IRA by having the plan administrator send the money direct to the charity.  Doing it this way can exclude up to $100K of charitable contributions from your income $ for $ instead of trying to itemize deductions when you don't have enough to do so.   

[jamesynot]

Thanks, that was the other reading I had, but wanted to confirm.  

It used to be that charity was promoted, but with a high standard deduction, it does not have an benefit in taxes.

[Texas Roger]

It has a benefit if all your itemized deductions add up to more than the standard deduction. For example, I had $35,000 in medical expenses allowing me to enter the amount exceeding 7.5% of my AGI as a medical deduction. I had nearly $10,000 of property tax and sales tax deduction and I had nearly $30,000 of donations. So the total of my itemized deductions far exceeded the standard deduction. As others have said, there are many less tax filers who have enough itemized deductions to be greater than the standard deduction since they increased the standard deduction several years ago.