Updated October 18, 2026. Quick answer: Line 11 is the total value of gifts you made to charity in cash or by check, including out-of-pocket expenses. Enter the deductible amount if a limit applies. The instructions require a bank record or written record for every cash gift, and a written acknowledgment from the charity for gifts of $250 or more.
IRS worksheets read line by line: Pub 526 Worksheet 2.
Related reading on this site: IRS Publication 561.
Related reading on this site: IRS Publication 526.
Read box by box from the IRS form text: Form 1098-C boxes 1 to 3 and Form 1098-C boxes 6a to 7.
What line 11 asks for
The caption reads “Gifts by cash or check. If you made any gift of $250 or more, see instructions”. The instruction is “Enter on line 11 the total value of gifts you made in cash or by check” (including out-of-pocket expenses) “unless a limit on deducting gifts applies to you.” The wider rules are on the charitable giving page.
The instructions open the topic with “contributions or gifts you gave to organizations that are religious, charitable, educational, scientific, or literary in purpose.” To check an organization, they say “Use our online search tool at IRS.gov/TEOS to see if an organization is eligible to receive” deductible contributions.
Records the instructions require
For cash gifts of any size: “For any contribution made in cash, regardless of the amount, you must maintain as a record of the contribution a bank record” or “a written record from the charity.” The instructions continue “The written record must include the name of the charity, date, and amount of the contribution.” They add “Don’t attach the record to your tax return. Instead, keep it with your other tax records.”
For larger gifts: “a gift of $250 or more only if you have a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charitable organization”. The timing rule is “get the written acknowledgment from the charitable organization by the date you file your return or the due date (including extensions) for filing your return, whichever is earlier.”
Gifts where you got something back
The instructions say “If you made a gift and received a benefit in return, such as food, entertainment, or merchandise, you can generally only deduct the amount that is more than the value of the benefit.” Their example is “paid $70 to a charitable organization to attend a fundraising dinner and the value of the dinner was $40.” The example answer is “can deduct only $30.”
Where the number comes from
Add up your gifts from your bank records, card statements and charity receipts. If a limit applies, the instructions say “Only enter on line 11 the deductible value of gifts you made in cash or by check.” The first listed limit applies when “cash contributions or contributions of ordinary income property are more than 30% of the amount on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 11b.” The list also covers gifts of capital gain property over 20% of that amount and gifts of property that increased in value or of the use of property. For the figuring they say “see Pub. 526 to figure the amount you can deduct.” If a limit holds back part of the gift, “you may have a carryover to next year.” That carryover is covered on the Schedule A lines 13 and 14 page.
Where it goes next
Line 11 is added with lines 12 and 13 on line 14. The form reads “Add lines 11 through 13”. See Schedule A lines 13 and 14 for line 14 and Schedule A line 12 for gifts that are not cash or check. The deduction total is on the Schedule A lines 17 and 18 page, whether to itemize at all is on the Form 1040 line 12 page, and the Schedule A (Form 1040) page covers the whole form.
Edition and line numbers
This page reads the 2025 Schedule A (Form 1040) and its 2025 instructions, the current files irs.gov served on 2026-10-18. They are the files for the tax year 2025 return, filed in 2026. The schedule says “Attach to Form 1040 or 1040-SR.” Check the tax year printed on the schedule you are filling in and use the line numbers on that year’s schedule, because a different year’s schedule can number or word its lines differently.
Common mistakes
- Relying on memory for small cash gifts. The instructions require, for any cash contribution, “a bank record” or “a written record from the charity.”
- Combining small payments to reach the $250 acknowledgment rule. The instructions say “In figuring whether a gift is $250 or more, don’t combine separate donations.”
- Deducting the full price of a ticket or dinner. The instructions say you can generally only deduct “the amount that is more than the value of the benefit.”
Related: Schedule A (Form 1040), charitable giving, and Form 1040 line 12.
Sources
- Instructions for Schedule A (Form 1040), Itemized Deductions (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sca.pdf
- Schedule A (Form 1040), Itemized Deductions (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sa.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 18, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.