The Dinesen Tax Times has been providing a series of articles about charitable contributions this month. A recent Tax Court case fits in nicely with that series of articles. The Tax Court case involved a couple (a Mr. and Mrs. Murphy) from California who had more than $27,000 of charitable contributions disallowed by the IRS […]
An often overlooked charitable deduction is the deduction for mileage driven for charitable purposes. Taxpayers can take a deduction — 14 cents per mile in 2010 and 2011 — for mileage driven in giving services to a charitable organization, or taxpayers can take a deduction for the actual cost of gas and oil associated with giving […]
In the good old days (before 2005), taxpayers could donate a car to charity and claim a deduction for the fair-market value of the car. It didn’t matter if the charity only sold the car for a few-hundred dollars. The taxpayer could claim a deduction for the fair-market value of the car. That all changed in 2005. […]
We’ve explored the basics of charitable contributions and which organizations qualify for tax-deduction purposes. Today, I’ll explore the recordkeeping requirements for documenting your charitable contributions. Documentation for contributions by cash, check or credit card is straightforward enough. Maintain receipts or other records that show the amount donated and when. If you donate more than $250 […]
In a post last week, I explored the basics of charitable contributions, and I mentioned that not all “not-for-profit” organizations are qualified organizations for purposes of getting a tax deduction for a donation. In general, 501(c)(3) organizations qualify, as do churches. Officially, the Internal Revenue Code, at Section 170(c), defines a charitable organization as: A […]
The end of the year is a good time to make charitable contributions, not only because the holidays are a season of giving, but because there can be tax advantages to giving to charities. In general, charitable contributions are deductible in the year paid. If you make a donation with your credit card, you take […]
Can you claim a charitable deduction for donating a house to a volunteer fire department? The answer is yes, but it’s hard to strucure the transaction in such a way that you can get a big deduction. The U.S. Tax Court recently ruled against a Wisconsin couple that had claimed a charitable contribution deduction of […]
