3 tips for charitable donations by the end of the year

The deadline is approaching to improve your tax burden this year

(WDEF) – You’ve got just one more week to improve your tax outlook for 2023.

And that means a lot of people will be making charitable donations before the New Year.

Here are three tips from a financial planner.

1) Donate Clothing

If you don’t have the money to give now, why not old clothes?

Bradley Rosen’s (Longevity Financial) pro-tip: pile on the heavy coats! On your taxes, they calculate the value of your clothing donation by the weight.  So the heavier, the better.

2) Donate Stocks

If this has been a good year on the market for you, share your wealth with a charity.  You can donate the actual stock to charity and claim a deduction for the value and also save on paying income tax on the stocks you donate.  It’s called Appreciated Long-Term Securities.

3) Don’t give at all

Rosen’s other advice is if you don’t have the money now, or won’t hit the itemized threshold this year, put off your donation until 2024.

He is a big believer of doubling up your donations for a bigger bang.

The idea is you skip a year and then give double the next, increasing your tax deduction.