Save Your 2023 Charitable Gift Receipts, Just In Case Deductions Are Expanded

You might be able to deduct charitable contributions in 2023 even if you don’t itemize expenses on Schedule A.

Charitable contribution deductions currently are available only to those who itemize expenses. To itemize, your total itemize expense deductions must exceed the standard deduction. The standard deduction was doubled in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, so few people itemize expenses now.

When a taxpayer doesn’t itemize expenses, there is no separate tax benefit for charitable contributions (or for state and local taxes or medical expenses).

During the pandemic, Congress allowed people who don’t itemize expenses to deduct on the first page of their tax returns up to $300 of charitable donations. They didn’t have to itemize expenses. The deduction was increased to $600 in 2021 for married taxpayers filing jointly.

That provision expired at the end of 2021, but there’s a move in Congress to bring it back.

A bipartisan group of 11 senators recently proposed restoring the charitable contribution deduction for taxpayers who don’t itemize expenses.

In addition, the senators propose increasing the deduction limit for non-itemizers to one-third of the standard deduction. That would put the deduction limit in 2023 at $4,600 for single taxpayers and $9,200 for married taxpayers filing jointly.

The proposal is something of a long shot, but you should keep receipts from 2023 charitable contributions in case it is added to a tax bill later this year.