The State of Kansas tax credits have gotten even more valuable to Kansas taxpayers, making it easy to consider the gift of a Catholic education as 2023 winds to a close.
The Scholarship Granting Organization for the Catholic Diocese of Salina (SGO) is a ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Salina that provides financial scholarships to students in 11 Catholic grade schools and 4 Catholic high schools across the diocese.
This program is helping to fund 96 new students across the diocese in 2023-2024 school year. Generous donors across the state are making this possible and getting a nice tax credit to boot.
Here’s how the tax credits work: assuming that you can use all of the Kansas tax credit in one year (if not, it can be carried over for future years), your donation of $10,000 would have a net cost to you of $2,500, or $10,000 minus the $7,500 (75%) Kansas credit. Then, you could deduct the $2,500 as a federal itemized deduction. It is a wonderful way to leverage your charitable donation and put children in Catholic schools!
The SGO was created in response to the 2014 Kansas legislation that introduced the tax credit for the Low-Income Student Scholarship Program. This program allows a donor to contribute to the Scholarship Granting Organization and receive a generous tax credit. The SGO then turns these donations into tuition support for low-income students who wish to go to a Catholic school in our diocese.
Do note that the legislation established a $500,000 maximum annual gift per taxpayer for receiving a Kansas income tax credit. The Salina fund established a minimum gift of $1,000 to process a Kansas income tax credit. The Kansas Legislature allocates $10 million per year for this tax credit program. The state tax credits are issued on a first come, first served basis. Once the limit is reached, credits will be unavailable until the beginning of the next tax year.
If you are interested in 2023 tax credits and in creating a wonderful opportunity to help needy students and grow our Catholic school system, please contact Katie Platten at the Catholic Foundation for more information – katie.platten@salinadiocese.org.