My son who is a full time student and is 22 year sold lives with us and we claim him as a deoendent on our taxes. Last year he paid $2000 in charitable contributions which he was not able to deduct since he filed short form. Can I claim his charitable deduction on my taxes?

No. He made the contributions, so only HE can claim the deduction.

You can't claim his contributions since he's the one who pays for it. Unless, you're his beneficiary. The charitable contribution deduction is one of the most commonly-abused by taxpayers, and the IRS knows it. Nobody really wants to pay any more than they have to for federal income tax, but unless a charitable contribution is valued fairly and reported correctly, a taxpayer would be better off not announcing it at all. Here are some recommendations to follow to be sure you keep away from the auditor's stare and get every cent coming to you. Deducting charitable gifts and avoiding an audit.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by margaretbal

You can't claim his contributions since he's the one who pays for it. Unless, you're his beneficiary.

---

First - please note hat this question was originally posted 5 years ago, so I suspect that the questioner has long finished his tax filing for 2006. However, can you please explain what you mean by "unless you're his benficiary?"

I believe AtlantaTaxExpert had this right - under no circumstance can one person claim another's tax deduction (except for married couples who file jointly).