Charitable Donation Tax Benefit Calculator

How it works

Federal saving = (deduction with the gift − deduction without it) × marginal rate · Deduction = max(standard + cash-gift deduction for non-itemizers, itemized) · Deductible gift (itemizers, 2026) = min(gift, AGI limit) − 0.5% × AGI · 37% bracket: itemized deductions − 2/37 × min(itemized, income above the 37% threshold) · Net cost = gift − tax saving − capital gains tax avoided

A gift lowers your tax only by the amount it raises the deduction you actually take, times your marginal rate. If you itemize, the gift adds to your itemized deductions; if you take the standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household in 2026, plus $2,050 or $1,650 for each person 65 or older or blind), it only helps once your itemized total climbs above it. The 2026 rules from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act change this in three ways: people who don’t itemize can deduct up to $1,000 ($2,000 joint) of cash gifts to public charities (not donor-advised funds or private foundations); itemizers can deduct only gifts above 0.5% of AGI; and for the 37% bracket, itemized deductions are trimmed by 2/37 so each dollar saves at most 35 cents. Gifts also cannot exceed 60% of AGI for cash to public charities or 30% for appreciated stock and gifts to private foundations; the rest carries forward five years. Donating stock held over a year lets you deduct its market value and skip the capital gains tax on the growth. Choose Use 2026 brackets to compute your actual tax before and after the gift, which catches gifts that drop you into a lower bracket. Bunching compares giving every year with giving several years at once and taking the standard deduction in between.

Worked example

Single, $130,000 AGI, 24% bracket, $10,000 of other itemized deductions and a $5,000 cash gift: itemizing would give $10,000 + ($5,000 − $650 floor) = $14,350, below the $16,100 standard deduction. So you take the standard deduction plus the new $1,000 cash-gift deduction, and the gift saves $1,000 × 24% = $240, costing you $4,760. Bunching three years ($15,000) into one makes itemized deductions $24,350, which is $8,250 above the standard deduction and saves $1,980 — $1,260 more than giving $5,000 a year. A $10,000 gift of stock bought for $2,000, with $15,000 of other deductions, saves $1,980 of income tax and avoids $1,200 of capital gains tax at 15%, so it costs $6,820.

Sources: IRS — Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (2026 tax brackets and standard deduction) · IRS — Topic no. 506, Charitable contributions · IRS — Publication 505 (2026): 0.5% floor, itemized deduction limit, SALT cap

Frequently asked questions