I have learn so much by reading post here.
I gave charity contrybutin to my church every year.
I would like to know how is it firgure(formula)
How much is allowed each year.
Does it affect how much I pay in taxes and what is the cutoff where it does not matter how much I gave.
Thank,I encourage your views
Karen

Karen:

You can give as much as your heart desires.

However, you can, in any given year, only deduct the amount equal to one-half of your Adjusted Gross Income. Anything in excess of that amount is carried over to successive years to be deducted on future returns.

I have a client (a nurse) whose ex-husband was a building contractor. Using her capital, they developed a subdivision of homes and did very well. When they divorced, she donated a large portion of the unsold houses to a local Methodist university. I expect she will be deducting that particular charitable donation for next 10-15 years.

But is there not also "red flags" so to speak, if we donate further than a certain percentage of our income, does that not increase the odds of an aduit.

I have been told that in the past.

Also if they need to give any more houses away, our church can use all the donations we can get

Fr Chuck:

There are no "red flags" per se, but the IRS does maintain demographic data which indicates what the "average" donation per capita.

These averages are not an IRS secret, but rather are published quarterly in the IRS Statistics of Income Bulletin, which, if you are curious, can probably be found on the IRS website (www.irs/gov).

Remember, too, that if any individual gift is over $250 you have to do a special form with your taxes.