Donate $1,700 at no net cost.

The Education Freedom Tax Credit is a dollar-for-dollar nonrefundable federal credit, not a deduction. If you donate $1,700 to a qualified SGO and you have $1,700 or more in federal income tax liability, the IRS reduces your tax bill by exactly $1,700. Your net cost is zero. You are redirecting $1,700 that would have gone to the general federal budget and sending it to K-12 scholarships instead.

The fastest way to know if EFTC works for you.

Grab your most recent Form 1040. Turn to page 2. Find Line 22 — labeled 'Subtract line 21 from line 18. If zero or less, enter -0-.' That number is your federal income tax after all your existing credits have been applied. If it is above $1,700, you can probably use the full EFTC credit. If it is between $0 and $1,700, that number is roughly your EFTC capacity. If it is $0, your tax liability is already fully offset by other credits — but your children may still qualify for an EFTC scholarship.

Who can use the full $1,700.

These are guidelines, not promises — your specific tax situation governs. Run the calculator for a personalized estimate.

Single earners above roughly $33,000 of annual income who don't claim the Child Tax Credit typically have the full $1,700 in capacity.

Married couples without children above roughly $50,000 in joint income typically have the full $1,700 in capacity — and if both spouses contribute separately, each can claim $1,700, for $3,400 per household.

Married couples with two children typically need household income of roughly $85,000 or more to have room for the full $1,700, because the Child Tax Credit takes $2,200 per child off the tax bill first.

Households with income above $100,000 almost always have the liability — the only question is whether you'd like to direct $1,700 of your federal taxes to education scholarships.

If you get a refund, you still have tax liability.

A refund means you overpaid through withholding — not that you owed nothing. If you earned $55,000 last year and got a $1,200 refund, you still owed roughly $3,500 to $4,500 in federal income tax; your employer just withheld more than that. The EFTC reduces what you owe, which means either a bigger refund at filing time or — if you adjust your W-4 — a slightly larger paycheck throughout the year.

What if I donate more than my capacity?

You don't lose it. Unused EFTC credit carries forward for up to five additional tax years. If you donate $1,700 but only have $1,000 in capacity this year, the remaining $700 carries to next year's return. The risk of permanently losing the credit only applies to people whose tax liability stays below their donation level for six consecutive years — a narrow group. For most donors, the calculator's recommended amount is the zero-cost path, but contributing the full $1,700 is rarely 'wasted.'

Know your number before you donate.

The capacity calculator takes about five minutes. It runs entirely in your browser — no account, no tracking, nothing stored. The result is a dollar-figure capacity, a printable Refund Boost Plan you can hand to your HR department, and a one-page summary for your tax preparer.

How to give.

1 Abacus Fund accepts donations by ACH (preferred — lowest processing cost, fastest settlement) and by credit card via Stripe once 1 Abacus Fund's IRS 501(c)(3) determination is in place. Employer-sponsored payroll deduction is the lowest-friction option for W-2 employees. You will receive an annual donation receipt in January listing the SGO name, EIN, your total contributions, and the no-goods-or-services statement required by the IRS to claim the credit.