I have talked a bit on this blog about charitable giving at the holidays. I know many of my readers are philanthropic all year long and this morning I read an article on how to get a little back from the IRS at tax time.
This article talks a bit about the parameters of what you can deduct, how much and what sort of back up you may need. Tax time is right around the corner and there are 22 charitable giving days left to make the cut for 2010 taxes.
A lot of the donations I make during the year are online in support of friends. I file all my online receipts in one email folder and print them out before heading to my accountant (oh yeah I don't do my own taxes so please don't ask me about tax forms....). It has become a routine and an easy way to keep the info in one spot instead of having to go back through bank statements to remember when I made donations throughout the year.
It seems like you need to donate in the $1000s in order for it to make a difference on taxes, so I've never been able to do it. Still, I keep a file of all my donations like you do, because if nothing else, it's really satisfying to have a complete picture of my yearly donations. And sometimes it even reminds me that I forgot to donate to a particular charity that year.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, my accountant claims every penny and mine certainly isn't in the $1,000s. I have no idea what the actual benefit is, but he always deducts it.
ReplyDeleteIt would have to be larger than the standard deduction in order to be worth itemizing rather than just taking the standard (it mentions something about this at the beginning of the article that you linked to). I suspect that because you work at home you are already deducting other expenses, so combined it is probably worth it for you. Obviously, everybody's situation is different, so it pays to consult a tax professional!
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