Source: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TJCA)

The TJCA has increased the standard deduction to $24,000 for couples filing married-joint starting in 2018.  Because of this, many won’t be able to use their deductions to charity.

Example: A married couple have itemized deductions of $10,000 state and local taxes (the limit in 2018), mortgage interest of $8,000 and charitable contributions of $5,000.  As their total itemized deductions are less than $24,000, they will take the standard deduction and the charitable deductions won’t help them.

Planning:  Instead, in Year 1, the couple makes no charitable contributions.  On January 1 of year 2, they give $5,000 and on December 15 of Year 2 they give $5,000.  Over the two period, they have given $10k (as was their habit), but by bunching both into year 2, they can now itemize in Year 2 and get some benefit of the charitable giving.