Hello, if I donated a charitable donation on December 31 but it didn't come out of my bank account until January 3, 2021. Which year would that count as a donation?

[adamemikk]

The website where I donated says December 31 but my bank shows January 31.

[Bsch4477]

The time you donated it is the year you deduct it. You should have documentation for that. 

[Opus 17]

The donation occurs when the money leaves your control.  If you could have canceled the donation before it was processed in January, then it is a January donation.  If you could not have canceled it once submitted on 12/31, then it is 12/31 donation.  

The charity may have flexibility in how they report this, depending on how their payment processing system works. If they send you a receipt for 2020, you're fine.  If they include this on a 2021 receipt next year and not a 2020 receipt, it still may be a 2020 donation for you, but you will want to keep the documents and make notes as to what happened, in case of audit.