| The Internal Revenue Service issued final regulations that require taxpayers to reduce their charitable contribution deductions by the amount of any state or local tax credits they receive or expect to receive in return. The IRS also stated that taxpayers may treat payments they make in exchange for these credits as state or local tax payments. This allows some taxpayers to deduct certain payments as taxes. The final regulations, which apply to contributions made after Aug. 27, 2018, and are effective on Aug. 12, 2019, largely adopt the rules in the proposed regulations. Under the final regulations, a taxpayer making payments to an entity eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions must reduce the federal charitable contribution deduction by the amount of any state or local tax credit. For example, if a state grants a 70 percent state tax credit pursuant to a state tax credit program, and an itemizing taxpayer contributes $1,000 pursuant to that program, the taxpayer receives a $700 state tax credit. A taxpayer who itemizes deductions must reduce the $1,000 federal charitable contribution deduction by the $700 state tax credit, leaving a federal charitable contribution deduction of $300. The regulations provide exceptions for dollar-for-dollar state tax deductions and for tax credits of no more than 15 percent of the amount transferred. |
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