Tuesday Tax Tips: Eight Tips for Deducting Charitable Contributions
March 29, 2011Charitable contributions made to qualified organizations may help lower your tax bill. While some of the laws surrounding charitable contributions can be complex I put together the following eight basic tips to help ensure your contributions pay off on your tax return.
1. If your goal is a legitimate tax deduction, then you must be giving to a qualified organization. Also, you cannot deduct contributions made to specific individuals, political organizations and candidates. The IRS publishes rules on what constitutes a qualified organization so if you are wondering about a given organization give me a call.
2. To deduct a charitable contribution, you must file Form 1040 and itemize deductions on Schedule A.
3. If you receive a benefit because of your contribution such as merchandise, tickets to a ball game or other goods and services, then you can deduct only the amount that exceeds the fair market value of the benefit received.
4. Donations of stock or other non-cash property are usually valued at the fair market value of the property. Clothing and household items must generally be in good used condition or better to be deductible. Special rules apply to vehicle donations… for the full list, please visit our tax center at www.mbflegal.com!
