How to Claim a Charitable Donation of Stock

If you have stock that increased in value since you bought it at least a year ago, you can often save more on your taxes by donating the stock to charity rather than selling it and donating the cash. If you donate stocks or other assets worth $500 or more, you're generally required to fill out a special tax form to detail your donations. Remember that donations will only save you money on your taxes if your total deductions, including from donations, are more than the standard deduction and you choose to itemize your deductions.

If you own stock that has appreciated in value and you've had it for more than a year, then you will generally owe capital gains tax if you sell it. However, if you donate it to charity, you can generally deduct the value of the stock up to 30 percent of your adjusted gross income and not owe capital gains tax.

If you've had the stock for more than a year and it's lost value, it may make sense to sell it, take a capital loss to offset other capital gains you would owe tax on, and then donate the cash for the charitable deduction. Of course, if you think that it may appreciate in value later on, you may want to postpone your donation until it recovers its value.

If you donate stock you've owned for less than a year, you're generally required to deduct only the amount you paid for it, not however much it's gone up in price. In this case, it can be worth considering whether the stock is likely to continue to appreciate and whether it's then worth delaying the donation for a larger deduction.

You can generally only claim charitable donations on your taxes if you itemize your deductions, rather than taking the standard deduction. This is generally only worthwhile if your total itemized deductions are worth more than your standard deduction.

In 2017, the standard deduction was $6,350 for single people and married people filing separately. It was $13,700 for married couples filing jointly and $9,350 for people filing as heads of households.

As of tax year 2018, those standard deduction amounts have all risen. The new amounts are $12,000 for individuals and married people filing singly, $18,000 for heads of households and $24,000 for married couples filing jointly.

If your donations and other deductions don't bring your potential itemized deductions above these levels, you'll likely want to take the standard deduction instead of itemizing. Because of this, you generally won't get any tax benefit from your donations.