John M. Hoffman & Associates CPAs

Frequently Asked Tax Questions

Charitable Contributions

 

"Does this mean that my donations of cash or a bag of clothing thrown in a bin are no longer valuable at tax time?"

Just about! We can not imagine the salvation army sending receipts to everyone who drops money in their bucket outside of Wal-Mart this Christmas. Will the IRS disallow something like $100 for various non-receipted cash donations? We do not know.

If you donate clothing or household items (all in good or better condition) to charities and to not have receipts of the likes, we suggest you limit your deduction to $249. If you have receipts but they are the blank type without a lot of details, we suggest you limit your deduction to $499. We also think that if you go to a place that gives accurate receipts, not only does that help at tax time but perhaps that organization is putting your goods to better use.