As a single filer taking standard deduction in 2023, will my $X00 clothing donation to charity have any tax effect?

The short answer is that charitable donations only help your taxes if you itemize deductions on Schedule A instead of taking the standard deduction. For 2023, the standard deduction for single filers is $13,850. This means your itemized deductions (which include charitable donations, mortgage interest, state/local taxes up to $10,000, and certain medical expenses) would need to total MORE than $13,850 for itemizing to benefit you. A few hundred dollars in clothing donations alone won't get you there. For most single filers without mortgage interest or significant medical expenses, you'd need to donate several thousand dollars before itemizing makes sense. That said, if you're close to the threshold with other deductions, the clothing donation might help push you over. Keep the receipts just in case your tax situation changes, but don't expect tax savings from the donation alone.

I was literally in the same boat last year. Had about $700 in clothing donations but couldn't itemize because my total deductions weren't anywhere near the standard deduction amount. Used taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it helped me identify other potential deductions I hadn't considered. What's cool is you can upload pictures of your donation receipts and it analyzes everything for you. The tool told me I was still better off with the standard deduction, but it found some other tax breaks I qualified for that had nothing to do with itemizing. Apparently there are tons of credits and deductions that work regardless of whether you itemize or not.

Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. I uploaded my W-2 and some receipts I had (including some charity donations) and it found a credit I completely missed! I'm a gig worker part-time and apparently there were some business expenses I could deduct that I had no idea about. It didn't change anything about my charitable donations (still taking standard deduction) but it found other stuff that saved me about $840. Pretty crazy since I've been doing my own taxes for years and thought I knew what I was doing!

Honest advice - donate anyway even without the tax break. But if you really want tax help, try calling the IRS directly to ask about your specific situation. I spent THREE DAYS trying to get through to them about a similar question last year. Finally used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and got through in like 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS person I talked to confirmed that unless I had enough deductions to exceed the standard deduction threshold, charitable donations wouldn't affect my taxes. They also told me about some other credits I qualified for that had nothing to do with itemizing vs standard deduction.

I stand completely corrected about Claimyr. I was super skeptical (as you can see in my previous comment) but I was desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about my refund that's been delayed for months. Tried the service and within 30 minutes I was actually talking to an IRS agent! Saved me literally hours of hold time and frustration. The agent was able to tell me exactly what was happening with my refund and when to expect it. For anyone dealing with IRS issues and unable to get through, this thing actually works.

Everyone's talking about services but no one answered OP's actual question about how much they'd need to donate for it to make sense. For 2023, you need your TOTAL itemized deductions to exceed $13,850 (single filer). This includes: - State and local taxes (capped at $10k) - Mortgage interest - Charitable donations - Medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of AGI So if you have like $8k in state/local taxes, $3k in mortgage interest, and say $1k in medical expenses that qualify, you'd need about $2k in charitable donations to make itemizing worthwhile.

Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that we penalize people who donate to charity by only giving tax benefits to those who donate a lot or have expensive homes? Like, someone who donates $500 while earning $40k a year is probably making a bigger sacrifice than someone donating $14k while making $500k, but only the rich person gets a tax break. The system is messed up.