August 17, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
Americans reported giving $36.9-billion in noncash donations to charity on their federal tax
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returns in 2003, according to a new Internal Revenue Service study.
The biggest share of those contributions was made up of corporate stock, which accounted for $13.7-billion, or 38 percent of the total. Taxpayers gave nearly equal dollar amounts of two other types of donations — real estate and clothing — for a combined total of $11.7-billion, or 32 percent of all noncash giving.
More Americans gave donations of clothing than any other noncash item, with 6.8 million people claiming such deductions (48 percent of all the donations claimed).
Wealthy Taxpayers
Taxpayers with incomes of $10-million or more claimed an average of $2.8-million in tax deductions for noncash donations. The $7.1-billion donated by people at that income level equaled slightly less than 10 percent of their combined income.
Among the organizations that received the donations, foundations got the largest amount. Taxpayers gave noncash donations totaling $8.3-billion to foundations.
Large organizations — a category in which the IRS includes such groups as the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army — received the second highest amount, $6.7-billion.
The 2003 tax year was the first one for which the IRS has analyzed noncash donations.
The full report, “Individual Noncash Charitable Contributions, 2003,” is available on the IRS Web site (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/03inccart.pdf).
