For advisors & CPAs

What a charitable gift is worth in 2026

Three limits changed the arithmetic this year: a 0.5%-of-AGI floor, a §68 reduction that caps the deduction at 35 cents on the dollar, and the AGI ceilings that were always there. Enter a client's numbers and see all three applied in the order the statute applies them, with the working shown.

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The calculator

Run a client's gift through the 2026 rules

Defaults are a $500,000 gift of long-term appreciated securities against $5,000,000 of AGI, married filing jointly. Change any input and every figure updates. Print or save to PDF for the client file.

Enter a client’s numbers to see what a gift to a Charitable Foundation Account is worth under the 2026 rules: the AGI ceiling, the 0.5% floor and the §68 reduction, applied in the order the statute applies them. Every figure shows its working further down the page, so you can check it before you use it. Nothing you enter leaves your browser. Covers cash and publicly traded securities, single or married filing jointly. Estimates for a planning conversation, not for filing.

Client inputs

Tax year 2026.

Filing status

Adjusted gross income

$

Gift to the Charitable Foundation Account

$

Funded with

Long-term appreciated publicly traded securities, held more than a year. Deducts at fair market value; the donor generally does not recognize the embedded gain, assuming no sale, debt or recapture rules apply. Other property types, such as real estate, private company stock and collectibles, follow different rules and are not modelled here.

Cost basis of the securities

$

Other itemized deductions

$

Enter the already-allowable amount, after SALT caps and other limits. Only drives whether the client itemizes at all.

Givinga ingress fee

3%

The current rate, charged once when the account is funded.

Advanced

Capital gain rates

%

Long-term rate and the 3.8% net investment income surtax.

Share of AGI taxed at capital-gain rates

%

Long-term gains and qualified dividends as a share of AGI. The deduction offsets ordinary income first; any excess reduces income taxed at capital-gain rates and is worth only that rate. Leave at 0 to treat all income as ordinary.

State marginal rate

%

State follows the 0.5% federal floor

Rough estimate only. Several states have not conformed to the new federal floor or the §68 limitation.

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Estimated tax benefit of the gift

$0

Per dollar given

0¢

comes back as tax relief

Estimated after-tax cost

$0

before fees and opportunity cost

Lost to the 0.5% floor

$0

permanently lost

Eligible to carry forward

$0

for up to five years

Where the $500,000 goes

Every dollar of the gift, split between what tax relief returns and what the client actually funds.

The arithmetic

In the order the statute applies it.

Step	Amount

What the account costs

The ingress fee and the benefit the gift produces, drawn on the same scale.

Ingress fee

$0

Estimated tax benefit

$0

0×

Bunching timing

The 0.5% floor is charged every year the client gives. Funding the account once can pay that toll only once, but only if the AGI ceiling leaves room to use the deduction.

5 years

Give annually

$0

Fund once, grant over time

$0

Difference

$0

Same charities. Same grant schedule.

What the 2026 rule changes cost

The same gift and the same 2026 brackets, priced with and without the two new limits.

Method. Federal tax is computed from the 2026 bracket tables with and without the gift; the difference is the income-tax benefit. Deductions are applied against ordinary income first; any excess reduces income taxed at capital-gain rates and is valued at that rate. AGI ceilings: 60% for cash, 30% for long-term appreciated property. The 0.5%-of-AGI floor reduces the deductible amount and is permanently lost unless the client is also limited by an AGI ceiling that year, in which case it joins the five-year carryforward. §68 then reduces total itemized deductions by 2/37 of the lesser of (a) itemized deductions or (b) taxable income increased by itemized deductions, in excess of the 37%-bracket threshold ($768,700 joint / $640,600 single). The calculator takes the greater of itemized deductions and the standard deduction ($32,200 / $16,100). The bunching model tracks carryforwards by contribution year, deducts current-year gifts before carryovers, retires carryovers oldest-first, and reports amounts that expire unused after five years. The rule-change comparison holds the 2026 brackets and standard deduction constant and switches the two new limits off, rather than comparing one tax year against another.

Excluded. AMT, QBI/§199A, above-the-line items, other AGI-driven phase-outs, state conformity detail, investment growth, opportunity cost and the time value of money. The 0.5% floor applies to the client's aggregate charitable giving for the year; other gifts made outside the account are not modelled here, and neither are carryforwards from years before 2026, which are not subject to the floor. Charitable deductions do not reduce net investment income for the 3.8% surtax. “Capital gains tax avoided” is a benefit only if the client would otherwise have sold the asset. A contribution to a Charitable Foundation Account is irrevocable and the Foundation holds legal control of the assets.

Illustration only. Not legal, tax or investment advice. Confirm with the client's CPA. Rules current as of August 2026. Sources: IRC §170(b)(1)(G) and (b)(1)(I) and §68 as amended by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Pub. L. 119-21); IRS 2026 inflation adjustments; IRS Publication 526.

What changed

Three rules, applied in this order

The 0.5% AGI floor

The first half-percent of AGI worth of giving is not deductible. On $5,000,000 of income that is $25,000 off the top, every year the client gives. It becomes a carryforward only if the client also breaches an AGI ceiling in the same year. Otherwise it is permanently lost.

The §68 reduction

Above the 37% bracket threshold, total itemized deductions are reduced by 2/37. That threshold is $768,700 married filing jointly and $640,600 single. The effect is to cap what the charitable deduction is worth at 35 cents on the dollar instead of 37.

The AGI ceilings

Unchanged: 60% of AGI for cash, 30% for long-term appreciated assets. Anything above the ceiling carries forward five years. Funding with an appreciated position also means the gain is never recognized, which is usually the largest single improvement available.

The lever

Pay the floor once, not every year

The 0.5% floor is charged on each year's new contributions. A client giving $500,000 a year for five years pays it five times, losing $125,000 of deduction. Fund a Charitable Foundation Account once, then grant out on the same schedule to the same charities, and the toll is paid once. Same giving, one toll instead of five, and the balance grows tax-free while it waits. One caveat the calculator will show you: this only helps if the AGI ceiling leaves room to use the deduction. Push a gift far past the 60% cash or 30% appreciated-property ceiling and the excess can expire unused after five years, which costs more than the floor ever would.

See how the Charitable Foundation Account works

Method & assumptions

How the numbers are produced

Illustration only. Ignores AMT, QBI, above-the-line items, other AGI-driven phase-outs, and state conformity detail. Charitable deductions do not reduce net investment income for the 3.8% surtax. State figures are a rough estimate, because state charitable rules, phase-outs and conformity vary widely. Not legal, tax or investment advice; confirm with the client's CPA. Givinga Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity.

Next step

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