Charitable Deduction Limits: The 60, 50, 30, and 20 Percent Rules

A charitable gift reduces your taxable income only up to a set share of your adjusted gross income (AGI). Publication 526 (2025), Charitable Contributions, explains those limits. This guide is general information. It is not advice about your return.

The starting point: 60% of AGI

The publication says your deduction for charitable contributions generally cannot be more than 60% of your AGI. In some cases, a 50%, 30%, or 20% limit applies. The limit depends on the property you give and the organization that receives it.

If your total gifts are 20% or less of your AGI, you can skip the rest of that section. The other limits apply to larger gifts or certain kinds of property.

Cash gifts to 50% limit organizations

Many public charities and churches are "50% limit organizations." For cash gifts to them, the deduction is limited to 60% of AGI, minus your deductions for other gifts. The 60% limit does not apply to noncash gifts.

Noncash gifts to 50% limit organizations

The publication says the limit for noncash gifts to 50% limit organizations is generally 50% of your AGI. Certain other gifts reduce that amount. Check the worksheets in the publication if you made several gifts in one year.

Gifts of appreciated property: 30% and 20%

Capital gain property, such as stock held over a year, is generally limited to 30% of your AGI when given to a 50% limit organization. The publication also describes a choice that uses the 50% limit, with a smaller deduction for the gain.

For some noncash gifts of capital gain property to certain organizations, the limit is 20% of your AGI. Check the organization type in the publication before you apply this limit.

The order of the limits

The publication says you apply the limits in a set order. Within each category, you deduct the current year's allowed gifts first. Carryovers come after that. A carryover to a 50% limit organization must be used before current-year gifts to other kinds of organizations.

Keep one list of gifts

In practice, keep one list of each gift with its date, its type, and the type of organization. The limits work together, so a single list helps you see which gifts are deducted this year and which are carried over.

Carryovers: up to 5 years

Except for qualified conservation contributions, you may deduct the excess in each of the next 5 years until it is used up. It cannot be carried beyond that time. A carryover of a qualified conservation contribution can be carried forward for 15 years. Keep records of each carryover.

Records and forms

The limits are only one part of the rules. You still need the records that support each gift. Our guide to charitable gift records and Form 8283 covers the documentation and the noncash gift form. Whether to itemize is a separate choice, covered in our guide to the standard deduction or itemizing.

Deduction or credit?

Publication 526 also has separate sections for gifts of food inventory and qualified conservation contributions. Read them if they apply to you.

A charitable gift is a deduction, not a credit. A deduction lowers taxable income. A credit lowers the tax itself. Our guide to tax credit versus tax deduction explains the difference with examples.

Simple steps

1. Find your AGI for the year.
2. Sort your gifts by type of property and type of organization.
3. Apply the 60% limit to cash gifts to 50% limit organizations.
4. Apply the 30% or 20% limit to gifts of appreciated property, as the publication describes.
5. Carry any excess forward for up to 5 years, and track each carryover.

Upload your documents and answer a few simple questions to start your return.

Sources: Sources: IRS, Publication 526 (2025), Charitable Contributions (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf) This is general information, not advice about your specific return.

More guides on: Tax credits and deductions

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