Tax Reform Proposal and the Charitable Deduction

The Washington Post has a list of winners and losers in the proposed tax reform package.  Yesterday I posted on the estate tax, and have searched a bit on potential changes to the charitable deduction. From what I found there will be no changes to the law, but that does not mean it wont have an impact on collectors and donations. This is because the standard deduction will be doubled, and with that fewer people will itemize and therefore, few tax returns using the deduction.

I dont think this will have a large impact on appraisers, as most appraisers are looking at deductions of $5,000 or more, and with that level of donation I would think most tax payers will be using the itemized deduction forms.

The Washington Post reports on the impact of the proposed tax reform for charitable deductions

Charities. The National Council of Nonprofits warns that charitable deductions are likely to go down under this bill. While the GOP enables the wealthy to continue deducting their charitable giving, many middle- and upper-middle-class families would no longer get that tax break, because they probably would stop itemizing their deductions. At the moment about 30 percent of Americans itemize, but under the GOP bill, the standard deduction roughly doubles from $6,350 to $12,000 for individuals and $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples, meaning fewer people would probably itemize. 

Source: The Washington Post