Make the 2024 tax season less painful

Tax season is here – the cause of considerable heartburn for countless Oklahomans. But it’s possible to ease that discomfort next year and beyond through an Oklahoma income tax credit program.

The Tax Credit Scholarship program provides need-based scholarships to students whose families would otherwise not be able to afford tuition at Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

Through the TCS program, donors who make a two-year pledge receive a state income tax credit for 75 percent of the amount of their gift – a dollar-for-dollar reduction in their state tax liability. (One-year gifts receive a 50 percent credit.) 

The credit is capped at $1,000 per year for single filers, $2,000 per year for couples filing jointly and $100,000 for qualified businesses.
Here’s an example: Jane and Joe Smith pledge to make a gift of $2,000 this year and $2,000 in 2024. In return, they receive a $1,500 tax credit each year. As a result, they’re out-of-pocket cost is $500, but they’re making a $2,000 impact on the program each year. And, that $500 difference can be applied to their federal tax return each year if they itemize.

The benefits of TCS are especially powerful for business entities such as LLCs, S-corps, C-corps and general partnerships. Businesses can customize their gift amount based on their tax liability, thus wiping out any state taxes they would have otherwise paid.

If the business is a pass-through entity, then the tax credit on the gift can pass through to the owner’s personal tax liability.
For example, if Jane and Joe Smith operate an LLC and have a personal state tax liability of $12,000, they can erase that by making a $16,000 gift through the LLC.

Donors gave about $2 million to TCS in 2022 – a tremendous year. Those gifts will help transform the lives of the young people through Catholic schooling.

Please visit tcsok.org and consider giving to the Tax Credit Scholarship program this year. Doing so will help students and their families in the archdiocese, and will make tax-filing season less painful in 2024.

Owen Canfield is director of the Tax Credit Scholarship program. Contact him at ocanfield@tcsok.org or (405) 709-2700.