Donations to non-profits

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James L

James L

Senior Member
Location
Kansas Cty, Mo, USA
Occupation
Electrician
Question for sole proprietors who donate to nonprofits. I've known of companies donating money to baseball teams, schools, charities, churches, etc...corporations do it all the time. But what about DBAs ?

If you're a DBA and you give to nonprofits, how does that go onto your taxes? Does it get listed in your schedule C as a business expense, or do you list it in your personal side on the 1040?

Or no write off at all?
 
My accountant says it's a "no-go" for a write off for a sole proprietor unless they give you a receipt for a write off. Even then, it doesn't come off the Sch C, it comes off the 1040.
I may know a guy that may list some donations as advertising!🙂
 
Little Bill said:
My accountant says it's a "no-go" for a write off for a sole proprietor unless they give you a receipt for a write off. Even then, it doesn't come off the Sch C, it comes off the 1040.
I may know a guy that may list some donations as advertising!🙂
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I was just kinda thinking about it in terms of comparison to por bono work, which could be written off at one time, but no more.
 
You can't write off your time as a contribution, but you can do a job and deduct all of the expenses incurred (mileage, materials, etc). Or you can make a contribution and they hire you back; just keep a good paper trail of the transactions.

Money donations are almost always deductible.
 
In general, charitable contributions are not allowed as a business expense on Schedule C.
Those are a personal matter, and put on form 1040.

But, may be of no use to you after the larger standard deduction.
 
fwiw... I am a single person LLC, and donations I make to charities from my business "flow" thru to my personal (1040) return, via my companies Schedule K-1 to me. As brycenesbitt points out above, with most people taking the standard deduction (87% in 2018), large charitable contributions can't be used. If you still itemize deductions, then they can.

However - as part of last year's CARES act - individuals ARE allowed to deduct $300 in "above the line" charitable contributions even if they take the standard deduction for tax year 2020. $300 is not a lot, but it's something. The reasoning behind this was that in the economic downturn, contributions to almost every charity was going to be dramatically affected. These contributions must be cash, not goods or time. This deduction is a bit better for 2021, if filing jointly it goes up to $600.
 
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