By Gina Gatchell, Director.
The IRS announced over the weekend that taxpayers filing jointly will be allowed to claim up to US $600 in donations to qualified US charitable organizations on their 2021 US return.
This is up from the current level of US $300 available to all filing categories. The deduction is relatively new and provides the opportunity for taxpayers who claim the standard deduction to get a tax benefit for cash contributions. Prior to the change only taxpayers who itemized could claim qualified contributions to US charities – subject to the various limitations already long enacted.
The newer deduction, enacted in the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Relief Act of 2020 last December capped this above-the-line deduction at US$300. Joint filers until now have been limited to a total deduction of US $300 on their 2020 return, so no doubling of the US$300 due to filing jointly.
