Ask the Editor: Can I Deduct GoFundMe Contributions and More
Each week in our Ask the Tax Editor collection, Joy Taylor, The Kiplinger Tax Letter editor, solutions questions on matters submitted by readers. This week, she’s taking a look at 4 tax questions from readers on charitable donations, together with one on whether or not a taxpayer can deduct a GoFundMe contribution. (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Tax Letter or subscribe.)
1. GoFundMe contribution
Question: I contributed $250 to a GoFundMe account arrange for a household who misplaced their home in a fireplace. Can I deduct the contribution on my tax return?
Joy Taylor: Unfortunately, no. Donations {that a} taxpayer makes to people aren’t deductible. This identical rule additionally usually applies to presents made by way of private fundraising web sites which might be earmarked for one particular person or a small group, reminiscent of a household who misplaced a house or an individual who wants assist paying medical bills.
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2. Tax adjustments for 2026
Question: I usually declare the usual deduction once I file my Form 1040. I heard that subsequent 12 months I can deduct my charitable gifts even when I do not itemize on Schedule A. Is this true?
Joy Taylor: Yes, however there’s a restrict. Last 12 months’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) lets nonitemizers deduct charitable money contributions. If you declare standard deductions, you may write off as much as $1,000 of your money presents to charitable organizations, beginning with 2026 returns filed in 2027. The quantity is $2,000 for joint filers. This write-off is everlasting and doesn’t part out for upper-income taxpayers.
Gifts to donor-advised funds and personal nonoperating foundations are excluded. “Cash donations” means presents by money, test, debit card, bank card, payroll deduction, digital funds switch, on-line cost service, or the switch of a present card redeemable for money.
Note that there’s one other change to charitable deductions, beginning with 2026 returns filed subsequent 12 months. Charitable deductions claimed by itemizers on Schedule A get a little bit of a haircut. The Schedule A charitable write-off is deductible solely to the extent that complete charitable donations exceed 0.5% of adjusted gross income (AGI). This is much like the foundations for deducting medical expenses, through which complete eligible medical prices are deductible solely to the extent they exceed 7.5% of AGI.
3. QCD and charitable present annuity
Question: I’m planning to make a $50,000 donation to my alma mater by way of a charitable present annuity this 12 months. Is this eligible for a qualified charitable distribution (QCD)?
Joy Taylor: It relies upon. People age 70½ and older can switch as much as $111,000 in 2026 from a standard IRA on to charity. QCDs will be executed solely from an IRA, both one that you just personal or an inherited IRA. You can’t do them from a 401(ok).
QCDs are nontaxable and are not included in your adjusted gross earnings (AGI). And they will depend towards your required minimal distribution (RMD), thus lowering the taxable quantity of the RMD, offered you do the QCD earlier than withdrawing your full RMD for the 12 months. Note that you could’t deduct a QCD as a charitable contribution on Schedule A.
As a normal rule, in a QCD, the cash should usually go to a Section 501(c)(3) group. The 2022 SECURE 2.0 laws offered an easing to this. It permits IRA house owners to do a one-time (not annual) QCD of as much as $55,000 for 2026 by way of a charitable present annuity, charitable the rest unitrust or a charitable the rest annuity belief. Many personal schools with charitable present annuity packages tout the QCD choice. If you already did this in 2023, 2024 or 2025, you may’t do it once more.
4. Verifying a charity’s standing
Question: I’m considering of donating to a charity this 12 months to assist victims of a pure catastrophe in my state. But I wish to keep away from scams. How do I do know whether or not a charity is reliable?
Joy Taylor: Make positive that you just donate to an IRS-recognized Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt group. The IRS’s web site has a tax-exempt organization search tool. You can use the instrument to test the group’s eligibility to obtain tax-deductible contributions. You also can assessment some details about the group’s tax-exempt standing and tax filings with the IRS.
It is smart to be careful for bogus charities and solicitors. They crop up after massive disasters. They wish to steal your cash and get you to reveal private and monetary info.
About Ask the Editor, Tax Edition
Subscribers of The Kiplinger Tax Letter, The Kiplinger Letter and The Kiplinger Retirement Report can ask Joy questions on tax matters. You’ll discover full particulars of methods to submit questions in every publication. Subscribe to The Kiplinger Tax Letter, The Kiplinger Letter or The Kiplinger Retirement Report.
We have already acquired many questions from readers on matters associated to tax adjustments within the One Big Beautiful Bill, retirement accounts and extra. We will proceed to reply these in future Ask the Editor roundups. So maintain these questions coming!
Not all questions submitted shall be printed, and a few could also be condensed and/or mixed with different comparable questions and solutions, as required editorially. The solutions offered by our editors and consultants, on this Q&A collection, are for normal informational functions solely. While we take cheap precautions to make sure we offer correct solutions to your questions, this info doesn’t, and isn’t meant to, represent impartial monetary, authorized, or tax recommendation. You mustn’t act, or chorus from appearing, primarily based on any info offered on this function. You ought to seek the advice of with a monetary or tax advisor concerning any questions you might have in relation to the issues mentioned on this article.
