Need to Know Tax › What's new on the return you're filing now
New for 2026
The charitable deduction for people who don’t itemize
If you take the standard deduction and give to your church or a charity, this is the first year since 2021 that the gift counts on your federal return: up to $1,000, or $2,000 on a joint return. If you itemize, the rule moved the other way.
Nine out of ten taxpayers take the standard deduction, and for most of them a gift to charity has made no difference on the return since 2017, when the standard deduction nearly doubled. Starting with tax year 2026, people who take the standard deduction can deduct cash gifts to charity on top of it: up to $1,000, or $2,000 on a joint return. The deduction is permanent, with no expiration date, which is more than can be said for several other 2026 changes.
What counts
The gift has to be cash. Checks and credit or debit cards count, and so does a payroll deduction to a charity; a bag of clothes for the thrift store or a used car does not. It has to go to a regular charity or church, the kind that gives you a receipt and appears in the IRS’s exempt-organization search. Gifts to a donor-advised fund do not qualify, and neither does money given directly to a person in need, however deserving, nor a GoFundMe for a neighbor. Keep the receipts and the bank or card records. The deduction is small, but the IRS can ask for proof of it like any other, and for any single gift of $250 or more you need the charity’s written acknowledgment, not just the cancelled check.
Which group are you in?
Look at last year’s return. If it has a Schedule A, you itemized; if not, you took the standard deduction, and unless something large changed, such as buying a house or a big medical year, you will again. The new deduction is for the second group. Nobody gets both: a gift either goes on Schedule A or into the new line, not both places.
For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 single, $24,150 head of household and $32,200 married filing jointly, plus $2,050 or $1,650 per spouse for age 65. Itemizing wins only when state and local taxes (now capped at $40,400 rather than $10,000), mortgage interest, charitable gifts and medical expenses over the floor add up to more than that. Many homeowners who stopped itemizing in 2018 will find they are over the line again because of the higher SALT cap, which moves them out of this deduction and into the itemizer rules below. It is worth running both ways.
What it is worth
A deduction lowers taxable income, not tax, so what it saves depends on your bracket. The Colorado return starts from federal taxable income, so the deduction flows through and saves another 4.40% on the state return.
Worked example: what a $2,000 joint gift saves
| Bracket | Federal | Colorado | Total | Net cost of the $2,000 gift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12% | $240 | $88 | $328 | $1,672 |
| 22% | $440 | $88 | $528 | $1,472 |
| 24% | $480 | $88 | $568 | $1,432 |
A retired couple in the 12% bracket who give $150 a month to their church have given $1,800 by December; the deduction takes $216 off the federal bill and $79 off Colorado’s. Giving $200 more before year end, to reach the $2,000 cap, costs them $167 after tax. Gifts beyond $2,000 on the standard deduction earn nothing further.
The people this helps most are the ones who stopped getting any tax benefit from giving years ago: retirees whose mortgage is paid off, renters, and anyone whose state and local taxes, mortgage interest and gifts together fall short of the standard deduction.
If you itemize, the rule moved the other way
Two changes hit itemizers in the same year. First, the first 0.5% of adjusted gross income in charitable gifts is no longer deductible. With AGI of $200,000, the first $1,000 you give buys no deduction; with AGI of $400,000, the first $2,000. Second, in the top 37% bracket, itemized deductions are now worth at most 35 cents on the dollar. Neither change affects the standard-deduction crowd.
Two ways around the floor. Bunching several years of gifts into one year clears the 0.5% once instead of every year; a donor-advised fund is the usual vehicle, funded in a big year and paid out to charities over the following ones. And anyone 70½ or older can give directly from an IRA, up to $111,000 in 2026. That gift never shows up in income at all, so there is no floor to clear, no itemizing required, and the Social Security and Medicare calculations that key on income never see it.
Worked example: the floor, and bunching past it
A couple with $200,000 of AGI itemizes and gives $6,000 a year.
| $6,000 every year | $18,000 every third year | |
|---|---|---|
| Gifts over three years | $18,000 | $18,000 |
| Floor (0.5% of $200,000) applied | 3 times: $3,000 | once: $1,000 |
| Deductible over three years | $15,000 | $17,000 |
| Federal tax difference at 24% | $480 more saved |
Bunching also helps when the couple is close to the standard-deduction line: in the two off years they take the standard deduction, in the on year they itemize with $18,000 of gifts on Schedule A. Simplified; ignores the other itemized deductions and the Colorado addback for AGI over $300,000.
Behind the scenes
Tax software asks one question, “cash contributions,” and takes whatever number is typed in. A preparer checks where the money went. A $1,500 gift to a donor-advised fund in December looks like cash and is excluded. A gift to a GoFundMe for a neighbor’s medical bills is excluded. A church pledge paid partly in 2025 and partly in 2026 counts only for the 2026 half. A raffle ticket or a charity dinner counts only for the part above what you got back. The deduction is new, so the first year it is claimed is the year the questions get asked.
The Colorado side
Colorado has long let people who take the federal standard deduction subtract charitable gifts above $500 on the state return (verify). With the federal return now allowing $1,000, or $2,000 joint, of cash gifts on top of the standard deduction, how the two interact for 2026, and whether the state subtraction still applies to the same dollars, should be checked when the Colorado forms are final. Separately, filers with federal AGI of $300,000 or more have part of their itemized charitable deduction added back on the Colorado return; that addback is covered in Give it away, pay tax anyway.
What to bring your preparer
- Last year’s return, so the itemize-or-not question is settled from the Schedule A rather than memory
- A list of cash gifts by charity with dates and amounts, and bank or card records that match
- Written acknowledgments for any single gift of $250 or more
- Year-end giving statements from your church or recurring charities
- Payroll giving shown on your W-2 or final pay stub
- Separately: any gifts to a donor-advised fund, and any qualified charitable distributions from an IRA (the 1099-R will not show them)
Questions people ask
I gave $3,000 but take the standard deduction. Do I lose the rest?
For the federal deduction, yes; it stops at $1,000, or $2,000 joint. If your total itemized deductions would beat the standard deduction, the whole $3,000 goes on Schedule A instead, subject to the 0.5% floor. Your preparer figures it both ways.
Do clothes, furniture or a car count?
Not for this deduction, which is cash only. Noncash gifts still count for itemizers, with their own paperwork rules.
I’m 72 and give from my IRA. Should I switch to writing checks to get the $2,000?
No. A qualified charitable distribution keeps the gift out of income entirely, which is worth more than a $2,000 deduction, and it satisfies your required distribution. Keep giving from the IRA; if you also write a few checks, those can go on the new line.
Does a gift to my child’s school fundraiser count?
If the school or its foundation is a registered charity and you got nothing in return, yes. If you bought a raffle ticket, gala seat or wrapping paper, only the part above the value of what you received counts, and the receipt should say what that is.
Is this deduction going to expire?
No. It is one of the permanent parts of the 2025 law.
Keep the receipts, even for small gifts
The deduction is new and modest, and the IRS can ask for proof of it like any other. A folder of acknowledgment letters and a bank statement is all your preparer needs.