Arizona Tax Credits

Yes! You can donate to however many organizations you want in any category. However, be mindful that can't receive more money back than you owe. So you'll have to do some math if you are trying to match your state tax liability exactly.

Example: Susan donates $300 to St. Vincent de Paul and $400 to CEA for a total of $700. At the end of the year, her Arizona tax liability was $550. She will receive a refund of $550 (or a credit if she owes money).

Arizona sets limits on the maximum tax credit you can receive for donating to organizations in each category. 

Example: You are a single filer. If you give $300 to St. Vincent do Paul and $300 to Paz de Cristo, even though you gave $600, they are both within the QCO category which has a maximum of $470 in 2024. Therefore your tax credit will be $470.

That being said, you haven't met the maximum in the other categories. You could choose an organization in the QFCO and STO categories to receive more tax credits.

For Qualifying Charitable Organizations: Form 321

For Qualifying Foster Care Charitable Organizations: Form 352

These forms ask for the date(s) of your contribution(s), so it is very important to keep your receipts or ensure that you receive a giving statement from the organizations to which you made your financial gifts.

Arizona allows taxpayers to make tax credit donations up to April 15 of the current year for the prior tax year. That means, if you make a donation on March 6 of 2025, you can claim them on the taxes for 2024, if you want to. You can also wait and claim them on taxes for 2025. You just can't claim them twice.

If you do make contributions between January 1 and April 15 that you want to claim on the prior year's taxes, you will have to list those in a separate section of the tax form.

Sure!

Johnny paid $2500 in state taxes last year, which he had withheld from his paycheck. Throughout the course of the year, he made donations to the following organizations:
$300 to St. Vincent de Paul
$250 to Boost a Foster Family
$400 to Catholic Education Arizona to benefit St. Timothy Catholic School

In total, he gave $950 to qualifying organizations. He kept the receipts and filed them away for his tax professional.

Through his paycheck withholdings, Johnny paid the exact right amount for his state taxes that year. He worked with his accountant to complete the necessary forms and received a $950 Arizona tax refund to match the donations he made.

In another scenario:

Julie didn't have as much withheld from her paycheck for her state taxes, so she knows she's going to owe $1500 to the state at the end of the year. But she decides to make contributions to qualifying organizations totaling $800. When she works with her accountant to claim these on her taxes, she now owes $700 instead of $1500.