December is the season of giving, and for many, that generosity can have benefits when tax time comes next spring.

Brett Nikkel is a professional CPA with Van Maanen, Siestra, Meyer & Nikkel and tells KRLS News the new federal tax law passed last December has incentivized many more people to take the standard deduction when calculating their income taxes.

“Now everyone’s standard deduction is basically double what it was before,” he says. “So if you had before itemized deductions for married-filing jointly in that 13, 14, 15,000 dollar range, which his where a lot of people were and you were deducting your charitable contributions, your standard deduction goes up to $24,000–meaning even though those donations are still deductible, you’re not going to use those…because you’re going to take that higher standard deduction”

Nikkel says that means charitable contributions, which are only deductible when finances are itemized, may be less effective until individuals or couples reach that threshold.

“If you are over that $24,000 mark, it’s a little bit more business as usual I guess, where if you’re making donations before the end of the year, you can still deduct them this year. IF you’ve slipped under that amount, you maybe want to reevaluate–if you’re close to that amount, maybe we can do something with a donor advised fund, maybe we can start trying to do an every-other-year donation type thing, and if you’re a business owner, there are other options there too.”

Nikkel encourages everyone filing to do so with a CPA, as they can help navigate the new changes, especially with the new Iowa tax laws going into effect for the 2019 tax year.