Charitable Giving Appears To Have Fallen in 2018, Despite Treasury Claims – C. Eugene Steuerle, TaxVox.
A concern of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was a potential decline in charitable giving. With the substantial increase to the standard deduction, many taxpayers no longer itemize and therefore won’t see a tax benefit to their donations at the Federal level.
While the Treasury’s recent press release gave the impression there had been no significant change to charitable giving in 2018 when compared to the prior year, TaxVox argues the opposite.
"The Treasury release is misleading because it is based on the relatively constant amount of nominal giving, before taking inflation and economic growth into account. Constant nominal giving means that real inflation-adjusted giving dropped and the rate of giving did, in fact, decline.”
One thing to possibly consider, however, is that many taxpayers increased or bunched charitable donations in 2017, before tax rates dropped, to get the most benefit. We will likely need to wait at least one more year to see the true impact tax reform has had on charitable giving.
Don’t forget that many states have a standard deduction threshold much lower than Federal, so itemized deductions not taken at the Federal level are still a benefit for state tax reduction. And also please remember that tax deductions aren’t the only reason to give!
2017 Tax Law Auditing Campaign in the Works at IRS – Allyson Versprille, Bloomberg Tax. “A compliance campaign in development at the IRS is focused on examining issues arising from the 2017 tax law as a whole.”
Tale Of The Tape: Comparing The Tax Plans Of Joe Biden And Bernie Sanders – Tony Nitti, Forbes. “While tax policy may not be as exciting as derisive nicknames, baseless allegations and conspiracy theories, it will play just as prominent a role in deciding the next President.”
7 ways to pay your tax bill – Kay Bell, Don’t Mess With Taxes. If you owe this tax season, the IRS wants you to know there are several ways to pay them.
IRS not Willing to Grant Relief to Taxpayer Who Attempted to Make a Late §475(f) Election – Ed Zollars, CPA. “The taxpayer essentially was asking the IRS to give him a break because he was simply not aware that this election was due so early.”
Tennessee Tornado Victims See IRS Relief
Tornado damage in February is bad enough, the IRS decided, as it announced the extension of upcoming tax deadlines for those affected. Victims in areas designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have until July 15, 2020 to file and make payments related to individual and business tax returns.
The extension applies to deadlines that occurred starting on March 3rd and includes business returns due March 15th, individual and business returns due April 15th, quarterly estimated payments and payroll returns. Such extensions are automatic, meaning taxpayers do not have special filings to gain approval for the additional time to file. However, if a notice is received assessing late fees or penalties, call the number on the notice to request penalty abatement. The IRS disaster relief page is a great resource for affected taxpayers.
IRS Shocks Practitioners With Bonus Application to Partners – Eric Yauch, TaxNotes ($). “Practitioners thought that a partnership could elect out of bonus depreciation for section 743(b) adjustments on a partner-by-partner and class-by-class basis, but Jaime Park, branch 7 attorney, IRS Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Income Tax and Accounting), indicated at a March 5 Federal Bar Association conference in Washington that that’s not the case.”
Tax Blogger Helps Get Judge To Change Decision – Peter J Reilly, Forbes. “So the lawyers on both sides are supposed to lay out everything relevant and then make their arguments. Why none of them looked at the regulation is a bit of a mystery.”
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