Strategic Timing of Charitable Giving∗

Gifts to charity are tax deductible for filers who itemize but not for filers who take the standard deduction. This paper investigates whether households that are likely switching from taking the standard deduction to itemizing change the timing of gifts to charity, postponing gifts from December of the year in which they take the standard deduction to January of the year in which they itemize. I use the initiation of mortgage payments as a proxy for switching into itemizing. I find evidence that households in the control group concentrate their charitable giving in the month of December, but households with first mortgage payments at the start of a new year do not concentrate their giving in the previous December. This pattern is distinctive to charitable giving. The non-deductible expenses of cash gifts to individuals and clothing purchases are concentrated in the month of December to an equal extent for those who are likely consistent itemizers and those who are likely switching into itemizing. ∗I am grateful for comments from Leah Brooks; conference participants at the National Tax Association; and seminar participants at University of Michigan and Oberlin College. Nahiomy Alvarez provided excellent research assistance. All errors are my own.