The tax cuts that went into effect this month have nonprofits and donors alike scrambling to learn more about how they might affect charitable giving.

  • WHAT CHANGED?
    Congress introduced temporary tax cuts for individuals, starting in 2018 and expiring after 2025. Perhaps most consequently, it doubled the standard deduction that taxpayers can take—raising it to $12,000 for singles and $24,000 for joint filers.
  • The estate tax threshold was also doubled to around $22 million, so the tax applies to fewer estates.

WHAT DID NOT CHANGE?

  • While the tax overhaul certainly includes some major changes, many provisions relating to charitable giving remain intact.
  • Donors can still avoid paying capital-gains taxes on stocks given to charity.
  • And politicians made no changes to gifts made directly from individual retirement accounts. People over 70.5 years old are required to make minimum yearly distributions from their retirement accounts—distributions that are taxed by the government.
  • Donors are still allowed to give up to $100,000 per year from these accounts to charities, which counts toward the minimum disbursement without being taxed.

Read the full article about how tax cuts affect philanthropy by Jasper Vaughn at National Alliance to End Homelessness.