I have heard many times; business owners say that making contributions to charitable organizations gets them a tax deduction. They can save more money in their business by doing this. Well, the true answer is not what they want to hear. For most of the businesses in the US, the answer is NO. Why not, you say? I gave money for business purposes to a charity. It should count for the same deduction as office supplies or wages. It does not. There are three main business entities in the US. Sole proprietorships (single owner), partnerships (two or more owners) and corporations (small and large). Of course, you have the LLC (limited liability company) which can be any of those three. The issue is that under sole proprietorships, partnerships and s-corporations (one of the two types of corporations), charitable contributions are considered pass-through items. Pass through items is not deducted to arrive at the net income or loss of the business. They are passed through or down from the business to its owners. The owners then take the deduction on their personal return just like if they had made the contribution themselves. For a c-corporation (the other type of corporation), the charitable contribution is deductible to a point but that is because a c-corporation is a standalone, tax paying business. Ok, so I will take the pass-through contribution off my personal taxes then, you say. Well maybe and maybe not. In 2018 we had a major tax change which doubled the standard deduction and eliminated personal deductions. When doing a tax return, you reach a certain point in preparation where you can deduct the HIGHER of your standard deduction or the total itemized deductions you have. Itemized deductions include out of pocket medical expenses above certain amounts, personal taxes paid, mortgage interest and charitable contributions. The problem is the standard deductions more than doubled in 2018 to almost $25,000 for a family ($12,500 for single) and have been going up each year since. Most people who did have higher itemized deductions under the prior to 2018 rules found out they did not itemize in 2018 and after. With the low interest rates, it is very hard for taxpayers to qualify for itemized deductions. So those pass through charitable contributions do not effect your return if you do not itemize. What can you do? First off, pick one or two organizations to support locally. Talk to them about sponsorships of programs, events, etc. and what “advertising” opportunities your business can have. I am not talking about your company name on a giving board in the lobby. Here is an example from me. I buy a sponsorship package each year for an organization for a large dinner and auction fundraiser. In return I do receive a dinner ticket and merchandise, which I reduce my cost by. What I get is that the organization places my company name in the program brochure, with my logo. They also have a continuous, rolling slide presentation of all sponsors going all night for the businesses who bought sponsorships. Now do I take 100% of the remaining cost as advertising? No, more like 80% which I classify as Advertising! The remaining 20% goes to charitable contributions. So that 80% of the remaining cost is advertising, which is now deducted as a business expense to determine net income or loss. So, I went from a nondeductible charity expense to a partially deductible business expense. As always you need to discuss things like this with your tax advisor or preparer. If you do not have one, please call our office for an in-office, ZOOM or phone meeting to discuss your entire tax situation.

With the advent of one natural disaster, we now have another one coming. As human beings we want to help those in need. When we see the tragedies in North Carolina and hear what will probably happen in Florida, we want to help. Many times, we do this through the giving of money to organizations which are working in the areas. One method people use for this is GoFundMe. This is a crowdfunding method to raise money for purposes. People believe that by giving to GoFundMe it is a tax deductible donation like giving to the Red Cross, Salvation Army or church. The issue is it is not. To be a tax-deductible donation, the organization you are given to must be recognized by the IRS as a Section 501c (3) organization. The organization has met certain IRS standards and maintains them. Just because money is being raised to help someone does not mean it is deductible. The IRS maintains a list of the approved organizations on its website. You can find it here at Search for tax exempt organizations | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov). If the organization is listed here, the IRS will allow you to consider your donation to be a tax-deductible donation. If it is not, then it is not allowed. So, consider using organizations you know about such as Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc for giving. If not, realize at tax time, those donations given to GoFundMe, individuals, etc. are not going to be deductible. As always, you should check with your tax advisor before doing any major transactions that could affect your income or tax filings.