Tax returns...?

[DeNguyen]

I was just curious... Is there a maximum amount of money you can get back in a tax return? Lets say you were extremely generous in donations that year and you donated as much as the government took away. Could you receive all your taxes back?
Thanx in advance.

 

[Sig]

Charitable contributions are not written off at 100%, so to completely offset federal witholding.... you must go well beyond the $ amount of witholding.

 

[satan_srv]

oh shit i forgot to file my taxes this year


hahahahhaha whoops...

 

[DeNguyen]

Charitable contributions are not written off at 100%, so to completely offset federal witholding.... you must go well beyond the $ amount of witholding.

Do you know what the % is?

 

[KGP]

Do you know what the % is?

I'm no accountant, but I think the percentage depends on a few factors, including the organization type donated to. However, a simple cash donation to a church is eligible for a 100% deduction if I remember right.

 

[Carguy!]

I am also not an accountant, but my understanding of donating is this:

If I make 50,000 per year and dontate 1,000 to a charitable organization then I will only be taxed on 49,000.

So if you pay 25% in tax than the 1,000 dollar deduction will save you $250 in taxes.

Also if you donate your money to an organization that is set up as charitable then whatever you donate will be deducted from your income.

Now if I receive something for my donation then I need to subtract that from what I gave. For example I bid on a package to the olympics from a charity. When I won the auction I was only able to deduct the amount I spent minus the value of what I received. BTW the trip to the olympics was awesome and was the best vacation my wife and I ever had!

 

[nsxtasy]

I am not an accountant, either, but...

Charitable contributions ARE deductible from your income when computing your taxes. This assumes that you are itemizing your deductions, and that the recipient has the proper charitable status with the IRS. There is also something called the "alternative minimum tax" that may apply to some folks and may prevent them from reducing their taxes to zero. But other than that, sure, if you give away enough money, you can reduce your taxes to zero.

Note that contributions are deductible from your income when computing your taxes, NOT from the tax amount as the first post here implies. Perhaps this is what Sig meant. Also note that we are talking about the amount of tax for the year, not the amount of tax withheld.