Can I Claim a Charitable Donation Tax Deduction for Money Gifted to Church from Inherited House Sale?

7 You're not asking a dumb question at all! Many people get confused about this. The good news is that yes, you can absolutely claim a charitable deduction for donating money from an inherited house sale to your church. Here's why: While it's true that inheritances themselves aren't typically considered taxable income to you, what matters for charitable deductions is that you're the legal owner of the money when you donate it. Once you inherit and sell the house, those proceeds belong to you regardless of how you acquired them. The IRS doesn't care if the money came from inheritance, your paycheck, or finding it under your mattress - if it's legally yours, you can donate it and potentially claim the deduction. Just make sure you get proper documentation from your church for donations over $250, and remember that charitable deductions only help if you itemize deductions rather than taking the standard deduction on your tax return.

15 After struggling with similar inheritance and donation questions last year, I found an amazing tool that saved me hours of research and confusion. I used https://taxr.ai when I was dealing with a similar inheritance situation - my aunt left me some property that I sold, and I wanted to donate part of it to charity. The site analyzed my specific situation and explained exactly how to handle both the inheritance tax implications AND the charitable donation deduction. It confirmed that I could claim the donation as a deduction even though it came from inherited money, but also showed me how to document everything properly to avoid audit flags. What really impressed me was how it explained the stepped-up basis concept for the property and showed me how that affected my potential capital gains taxes before making the donation.

3 I want to follow up after trying taxr.ai for my inheritance and charitable donation situation. I was the one asking about itemizing vs standard deduction, and I'm honestly blown away by how helpful this was. The tool showed me that with my $12,000 church donation from my grandmother's estate, plus my mortgage interest and property taxes, I was well over the standard deduction threshold. It even identified a technical detail about partial charitable deductions of inherited property that my previous tax preparer had missed! What saved me the most headache was how it walked me through documenting everything properly - it generated a customized checklist of exactly what receipts and acknowledgments I needed from my church to satisfy IRS requirements. This alone was worth it since my donation was large enough to potentially trigger extra scrutiny.

9 Has anyone else here had trouble getting through to the IRS to ask about inheritance and donation questions? I've been trying for WEEKS to get clarification on my situation (similar to OP's) and keep getting disconnected or waiting for hours. I finally used https://claimyr.com to get connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of spending all day on hold. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent confirmed exactly what others are saying here - that donations from inherited money absolutely qualify as charitable contributions. She also explained how to properly document the donation and what forms I'd need to include with my return since my donation was fairly large. Saved me so much uncertainty about whether I was doing things right.

18 I have to eat my words and apologize to 9. I was the one who called BS on the Claimyr service, but after getting absolutely nowhere with the IRS for two weeks trying to figure out my inheritance tax situation, I broke down and tried it. I got connected to an IRS representative in about 25 minutes when my previous attempts had all ended in either disconnections or hold times of 3+ hours before I had to give up for work calls. The agent was able to confirm everything about my charitable donation from inherited funds and gave me specific guidance on how to document everything properly. They even addressed a specific question I had about partial donations from a property sale that I couldn't find clear answers to anywhere online. So to 9 and anyone else reading this - sorry for being so dismissive. This service actually delivered exactly what it promised.

5 A quick tip for the original poster - make sure you get a written acknowledgment from your church that includes the date and amount of your donation, and explicitly states whether you received any goods or services in exchange. The IRS is really picky about documentation for larger donations.

14 Has anyone used TurboTax to handle this kind of situation? I'm in a similar boat (inherited money, gave to charity) and wondering if the software walks you through this correctly or if I need to see an accountant.

4 Don't forget that for the 2025 tax year, you can only deduct charitable contributions up to 60% of your adjusted gross income for cash donations to public charities like churches. If your donation is larger than that, you can carry forward the excess for up to 5 years. Also, inheritance itself isn't taxable income at the federal level, but if the house appreciated in value between when you inherited it and when you sold it, you might owe capital gains tax on that growth. The charitable donation might help offset some of that tax liability.

Just wanted to add something important that I learned the hard way - if you inherited the house and then sold it, make sure you understand the "stepped-up basis" rules. When you inherit property, your cost basis is typically the fair market value on the date your grandmother passed away, not what she originally paid for it. This means if the house was worth $200k when you inherited it and you sold it for $205k, you'd only owe capital gains tax on that $5k difference, not on your grandmother's original purchase price. This can make a huge difference in your tax liability and might affect how much you want to donate. Also, since you're planning to donate 10% as a tithe, keep in mind that regular tithing throughout the year can be a good tax strategy if you're consistently over the standard deduction threshold. Many people bunch their charitable giving into alternating years to maximize the tax benefit.