Watch Out For Limits on 2026 Charitable Contribution Deductions

Starting 2026, itemized deductions for charitable contributions will have a 0.5% floor. So a married couple with a $100,000 AGI, the first $500 in charitable contributions will not be allowed.

So you may want to consider if you want to bunch 2026 and 2027 charitable contributions to 2025 and skip donations in the next 2 years to (a) avoid the new law and (b) help itemize deductions if your deductions are generally close to the standard deduction.

In addition, starting 2026, for taxpayers in the 37% tax bracket, they will have a phaseout of all itemized deductions (including charitable contributions and state taxes) equal to 2/27 of itemized deductions in the top bracket. This is roughly a maximum 5.4% reduction in itemized deductions.

 If you contribute to a donor advised fund in 2025, you will not be subject to these limits.

 The donor advised fund allows an upfront tax deduction and allows you to make donations from this fund over time. Currently, the IRS does not have a timeline of when funds from a DAF must be disbursed to charities.