What Charitable Contributions are Tax Deductible?

This is a generous time of year when I am often asked what charitable contributions are tax deductible.  Even if not a qualified donation for a tax deduction giving is a wonderful thing for the giver and the receiver 🙂

A charitable contribution is a donation or gift to, or for the use of a qualified organization.  To be a donation it must be a true gift.  That is a voluntary transfer of money or property without receiving anything in return or expecting to receive anything in return (accept that tax deduction you may receive).

Generally donations to qualified tax exempt organizations are deductible by individuals and businesses as charitable donations. As an individual if you itemize deductions (on Schedule A) you can deduct donations to charity. If you don’t itemize there is no tax benefit.  For businesses often payments to qualified organizations may actually be qualified business expenses fully deductible and not subject to limitations.

Donations can be made by cash, check, debit card, credit card or giving of any item (household items, clothing, car, boats, stocks or bonds etc.) to a qualified organization. The donations is considered made when delivery occurs. This means when a check is mailed, a credit card is charged or an item is sent, transferred or delivered to the qualified organization.  Regardless of how the donations is made Continue reading →