How do donations affect my tax return for 2025?

Hey all, I've been doing a lot more charitable giving this year and I'm trying to understand how this will impact my taxes. I usually take the standard deduction ($14,600 for single filers in 2025, right?), but I've donated about $9,000 to various charities throughout the year. I've kept receipts for everything, but I'm confused about whether this will actually help me save on taxes. Do I need to reach a certain threshold before donations make any difference? And how exactly do I claim these on my return? I'm using TurboTax if that matters. Thanks for any help!

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20 comments

Daryl Bright

•8M

Donations can definitely affect your tax return, but only if you itemize deductions instead of taking the standard deduction. Here's how it works in simple terms: If your total itemized deductions (including charitable donations, mortgage interest, state/local taxes up to $10,000, and some medical expenses) exceed your standard deduction amount, then itemizing would save you more on taxes. Otherwise, the standard deduction is better. With $9,000 in donations alone, you'd need about $5,600 more in other itemizable expenses to beat the $14,600 standard deduction for single filers. If you can't exceed that threshold, your donations won't affect your tax return. If you do itemize, you'll need those receipts you mentioned, and you'll enter the donation information on Schedule A of your tax return. TurboTax will walk you through this process and help determine whether itemizing makes sense for you.

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Daryl Bright

•8M

For non-cash donations like clothing and furniture, you can still claim them even without a formal receipt, but there are some rules to follow. For donations valued under $250, you need to record when and where you donated, a description of the items, and a reasonable estimate of their fair market value. Many charities provide a basic donation slip you can fill out yourself. For donations valued over $250 but under $5,000, you do need written acknowledgment from the charity. If you don't have this, you might want to contact the organization to see if they can provide documentation retroactively.

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Kirsuktow DarkBlade

•8M

After struggling to figure out my charitable deductions last year, I found this awesome tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that literally saved me hours of headache. I had a stack of donation receipts and wasn't sure what I could claim, so I uploaded them and the system analyzed everything - told me exactly which ones qualified and even flagged some deductions I was missing. The best part was when it found this obscure deduction for some professional equipment I'd donated that I had no idea was worth so much!

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Kirsuktow DarkBlade

•8M

It absolutely works with handwritten receipts! I had several from a local thrift store that were pretty messy, and it still processed them correctly. It's actually pretty impressive with various formats. For TurboTax comparison, it's different because it does the analysis before you even start your tax return. TurboTax will accept your numbers, but taxr.ai actually reviews each receipt for compliance, tells you if something might trigger an audit, and identifies opportunities you might miss. I found it helpful to use before entering everything into TurboTax so I knew exactly what I could claim.

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Abigail bergen

•8M

Just wanted to update everyone - I tried that taxr.ai site mentioned above for my church donations and WOW it actually works! I've been nervous about claiming my church giving for years because the receipts aren't standardized. The system analyzed everything and even caught that my church needed to include some specific language about "no goods or services received" for it to be fully deductible. I was able to get them to update their documentation. Definitely helped me feel confident about potentially itemizing this year!

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Anderson Prospero

•8M

If you're having trouble getting answers about your donations from the IRS (I was on hold for 3+ hours last week), try https://claimyr.com - they got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. I had this weird situation with some stocks I donated and needed official clarification. After weeks of trying to get through myself, Claimyr got me talking to someone who actually knew the answer about how to properly value and report securities donations.

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Anderson Prospero

•8M

It's not sketchy at all - they basically use technology to wait in the IRS phone queue for you, then call you once they have an agent on the line. You're still the one talking directly to the IRS representative. It's just that their system navigates the initial hold times and phone trees. Regarding skipping the queue - they don't actually skip it, they just handle the waiting part for you. They have systems that can stay on hold with multiple lines simultaneously, which is something we can't do as individuals. Trust me, I was skeptical too, but when you need an answer from the IRS and can't waste half your day on hold, it's pretty life-changing.

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Toot-n-Mighty

•8M

Ok I hate admitting when I'm wrong but I owe everyone an update. After my skeptical comment above I was desperate about a charitable donation question involving a vehicle donation, so I tried Claimyr. It actually worked exactly as described - I got a call back in about 15 minutes with an IRS agent already on the line. They answered my question about Form 8283 for non-cash donations over $500 and saved me from making a big mistake on my car donation. I'm still shocked this exists but wanted to let everyone know it's legitimate.

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Lena Kowalski

•8M

The percentage limits rarely affect average donors, but they can come into play for people with unusually large donations in a single year, like if you're donating a valuable property or making a major gift. Most people stay well under those thresholds. For QCDs (Qualified Charitable Distributions), the main benefit beyond percentage limits is that they allow people over 70.5 to donate directly from their IRA without counting that money as income. This can be much more tax-efficient than taking a distribution and then making a separate donation, especially if you don't itemize deductions.

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Victoria Brown

•5M

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that you can carry forward unused charitable deductions for up to 5 years if you exceed the AGI limits in any given year. So if you have a particularly generous year where your donations exceed 60% of your income, you don't lose those deductions - they roll over to future tax years. This is especially helpful for people who make large one-time donations or have variable income. Just make sure to keep good records of what you're carrying forward each year!

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