Bundling Charitable Contributions

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
March 15, 2021
1 reply
9 views

I entered a lot of charitable contributions in my 2020 tax return but ended up taking the standard deduction. I want to bundle my donations next year. Do I need to re-enter everything in next years tax return? I can't figure out how to print the tax data, or transfer to It'sDeductible and keep adding to it. . What would you do?

ErnieS0

Level 15

You can only claim contributions made in 2020 on your 2020 income tax return. You cannot save them for future years. The IRS goes by calendar year.

The IRS says, “Contributions must actually be paid in cash or other property before the close of your tax year to be deductible, whether you use the cash or accrual method.”

Bundling contributions means doubling up on contributions every other year. For example, instead of contributing $100 to a Charity A every year, you give $200 every other year.

Related Resource:

Charitable Contribution Deductions

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halverbk

Level 2

I have the same question, but I don't think you answered it. Can the TurboTax programming be changed (enhancement request!) to keep the charity information so those giving alternating year donations do not have to reenter the information again? Thanks.

SteamTrain

Level 15

@halverbk

They don't carry over 2 years in the actual tax software if not used in the intermediate year.

But I notice that charities entered in ItsDeductible will carry over for Multiple years for reuse in any later year....( I just checked several from 2019 I didn't use in 2020,and I can select them for 2021 donations)

If using the "Online" software, the ItsDeductible account must have the exact same UserID/pwd as your Online tax account, or the date entered won't import into the software. But those using Desktop software, can use any ItsDeductible account to import (so far)

https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/itsdeductible/

____________*Answers are correct to the best of my knowledge when posted, but should not be considered to be legal or official tax advice.*