In 2022 I listed all the donations in the tax return, however they were not used because all my deductions were not enough. This year 2023 I can itemize, so could I bunch 2022 donations together with this year deductions?
What about bunching charitable donations? That is something that can be done, I know that for sure. I just do not know if it is possible, since I listed them in the return, although they were not used.
No, you can’t bunch your 2022 and 2023 charitable contributions together and claim them on your 2023 tax return. You must claim the charitable contributions the year that you make them.
Refer to the TurboTax article Charitable Giving and Your Taxes and the IRS article Charitable Contribution Deductions for more information. Scroll down to Timing of Contributions.
Bunching donations means giving all the donations that you would normally give in more than one year all in the same year. For example, give the donations you would normally give in 2023 in early 2024. Give your normal 2024 donations in 2024. Then give the donations you would have given in 2025 in 2024. So you are bunching the donations for 3 different years into 1 year thus increasing the amount of deductions you can make in that one year and perhaps having enough to itemize deductions in that year. You would then take the standard deduction in the other years.