How to Deduct Charitable Donations Under IRS Publication 526

To deduct charitable donations under IRS Publication 526, give to an IRS-qualified organization, keep the required records, and either itemize on Schedule A or use the new above-the-line cash deduction that arrived for 2026. If you itemize, only the portion of your giving above 0.5% of your adjusted gross income counts, and your total deduction is capped at a percentage of AGI that depends on what you gave and who received it.

Confirm the Charity Qualifies

The deduction hinges on the recipient. Most qualified organizations are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3): religious institutions, schools, hospitals, scientific research groups, and literary organizations. Federal, state, and local government entities also qualify, but only when the money is earmarked for a public purpose.¹

Gifts to individuals never qualify, no matter how genuine the need. Political groups and most foreign organizations are out too. A narrow treaty exception covers certain Canadian, Mexican, and Israeli charities, and even then the deduction is limited to income from sources in that country. Before you give, run the organization through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search on irs.gov.

Itemize or Use the New Above-the-Line Cash Deduction

Charitable contributions reduce your taxes on Schedule A only if your itemized deductions beat the standard deduction. For 2026, the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for married couples filing jointly.² Your donations only matter if, added to mortgage interest, state taxes, and other itemizable expenses, they push you past that number.

New for 2026, taxpayers who take the standard deduction can also claim an above-the-line deduction for cash charitable contributions of up to $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for married couples filing jointly. It applies only to cash gifts to qualifying charities. For most non-itemizers, this is the only path from a donation to a tax break.

Clear the 0.5% AGI Floor

Starting with the 2026 tax year, itemizers can only deduct contributions that exceed 0.5% of AGI. Everyone who itemizes faces it, and it’s one of the biggest changes to the charitable deduction in years.

The math is straightforward. If your AGI is $200,000 and you donated $2,000, the first $1,000 doesn’t count and you deduct $1,000. AGI of $100,000 costs you the first $500. A married couple at $350,000 sees a $1,750 floor before any deduction begins. Splitting donations across multiple charities doesn’t help; the floor applies to your total giving for the year. Qualified charitable distributions from IRAs, covered below, sidestep the floor because they never enter AGI.

Stay Within the AGI Percentage Caps

Even after clearing the floor, the IRS caps your annual deduction as a percentage of AGI. The cap depends on what you gave and who received it.¹

60% of AGI for cash contributions to public charities, including churches, hospitals, schools, and government entities.
50% of AGI for noncash contributions of property other than capital gain assets to public charities, reduced by cash contributions already counted against the 60% limit.
30% of AGI for appreciated capital gain property donated to public charities at full fair market value, and for cash gifts to certain private non-operating foundations and veterans’ organizations.³
20% of AGI for capital gain property donated to private non-operating foundations and for contributions made “for the use of” rather than directly “to” a qualified organization.

How the Ordering Rules Work

Multiple types of gifts in the same year don’t get taken all at once. The 60% cash contributions apply first, reducing the AGI available for the lower tiers. The 50% category comes next, then 30%, then 20%. A large cash gift to a public charity can leave less room under the 30% cap for your stock donation even though the two went to different organizations.

Carrying Excess Forward

Donations above the applicable cap carry forward for up to five years.¹ A carryover keeps its original character, so a 30% contribution you couldn’t fully deduct stays a 30% contribution next year. Current-year gifts are used before carryovers, and anything left after five years expires. A very large one-time gift needs multi-year planning.

Value Noncash Gifts Correctly

Property donations require you to establish fair market value at the moment of the gift: what a knowledgeable buyer would pay a knowledgeable seller, with neither under pressure. How much you actually deduct depends on how the property is classified.

Ordinary Income Property

Business inventory, artwork you created, and stocks held one year or less would produce ordinary income or short-term gain if sold. Your deduction is limited to your cost basis regardless of current market value.¹ Stock you bought six months ago for $3,000 that’s now worth $5,000 gets you a $3,000 deduction.

Capital Gain Property

For assets held more than a year that would produce long-term gain, you can generally deduct full fair market value, appreciation included, and never pay capital gains tax on the increase. Donating appreciated stock is one of the most tax-efficient ways to give.⁴

Two situations pull the deduction back down to basis. Tangible personal property such as artwork or antiques must be used by the charity in a way related to its exempt purpose. A painting given to a museum for its collection deducts at fair market value; the same painting donated to a hospital that will auction it off is limited to basis. Capital gain property given to a private non-operating foundation is generally deductible only at basis.

Clothing, Household Items, and Vehicles

Clothing and household items must be in good used condition or better. If an item falls short, you can’t deduct it unless it’s worth more than $500 and you have a qualified appraisal and Section B of Form 8283. For everyday thrift-store donations, the deductible value is what the store would sell the item for, not what you paid.⁵

Donating a car, boat, or airplane worth more than $500 triggers Form 1098-C from the charity.⁶ If the charity sells the vehicle, your deduction is limited to the actual sale price, which is often well below the Kelley Blue Book figure people expect. The deduction reaches fair market value only if the charity keeps the vehicle for significant use or gives it to a needy person at below-market price.

Volunteer Expenses

The value of your time is never deductible, even if you’re a professional giving expertise for free. Out-of-pocket expenses while volunteering are, though. Supplies, travel, and required uniforms all count. Driving your own car for volunteer work is deductible at 14 cents per mile for 2026, a rate set by statute rather than adjusted annually.⁷

When You Get Something in Return

If you receive goods or services back, only the amount exceeding their fair market value is deductible. A $100 gala ticket where the dinner is worth $40 produces a $60 deduction.⁸

Keep the Records the IRS Actually Requires

Documentation is where deductions fall apart on audit. The required proof scales with the size and type of the gift, and missing the right threshold means losing the deduction entirely, even when the donation was real.

Every Donation

You need the charity’s name, the date, and the amount or a description of the property. Cash contributions of any amount must be backed by a bank record, receipt, or written statement from the charity. A canceled check or credit card statement works. Cash in the collection plate with no paper trail doesn’t support a deduction.

$250 or More

Any single contribution of $250 or more requires a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity, in your hands by the time you file.⁹ It must state the cash amount or describe the property, say whether the charity provided anything in return, and if so, estimate that value. If nothing was provided, it must say so explicitly. The charity doesn’t file it with the IRS; you have to request and keep it.

Over $75 With Something in Return

When a payment over $75 comes with goods or services, the charity is legally required to give you a written disclosure telling you that only the amount exceeding the value of what you got back is deductible, along with a good-faith estimate of that value.⁸

Noncash Gifts Over $500

Total noncash contributions over $500 for the year require Form 8283 attached to your return.¹⁰ Section A handles items or groups of items valued at $5,000 or less, asking for a description, when and how you acquired the property, and your cost basis.

Noncash Gifts Over $5,000

For a claimed deduction above $5,000 on a single item or group of similar items, you need a qualified appraisal and Section B of Form 8283.¹¹ The appraisal must be done no earlier than 60 days before the donation and no later than the return’s due date. Both the qualified appraiser and the charity must sign. Publicly traded securities are exempt because market quotations already fix their value.

Qualified Charitable Distributions if You’re 70½ or Older

At 70½ and older, you can transfer money directly from a traditional IRA to a qualified charity and exclude the amount from taxable income. These qualified charitable distributions count toward your required minimum distribution without inflating AGI. For 2026, the QCD cap is $111,000 per person, or $222,000 for a married couple where both spouses are eligible.¹²

A separate one-time election allows a QCD of up to $55,000 to a split-interest entity such as a charitable remainder trust or charitable gift annuity. The transfer has to go directly from the IRA trustee to the charity; if the money passes through your hands, it becomes a regular taxable distribution. QCDs bypass the 0.5% AGI floor and the percentage-of-AGI caps entirely, which makes them the cleanest way for retirees to give.

Penalties for Overvaluing Donated Property

An inflated value on donated property carries real risk beyond losing the deduction. If the claimed value is 150% or more of the correct amount, the IRS can impose a 20% accuracy-related penalty on the resulting tax underpayment. At 200% or more, the penalty doubles to 40% as a gross valuation misstatement.¹³

Those penalties come on top of the additional tax you owe once the deduction is reduced to the correct value. For high-value noncash gifts, the qualified appraisal requirement partly exists to protect you. A well-documented appraisal from a qualified professional is your best defense if the IRS later challenges the number. Saving a few hundred dollars by cutting corners on that appraisal is rarely worth what it exposes you to.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526 (2025), Charitable Contributions
2
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One Big Beautiful Bill
3
Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Contribution Deductions
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526 (2025), Charitable Contributions – Section: Capital Gain Property
5
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 561, Determining the Value of Donated Property
6
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1098-C, Contributions of Motor Vehicles, Boats, and Airplanes
7
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents Per Mile, Up 2.5 Cents
8
Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Contributions – Quid Pro Quo Contributions
9
Internal Revenue Service. Substantiating Charitable Contributions
10
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts
12
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs, as Adjusted for Changes in Cost-of-Living (Notice 2025-67)
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6662 – Imposition of Accuracy-Related Penalty on Underpayments