John M. Hoffman & Associates CPAs

Frequently Asked Tax Questions

Charitable Contributions

Charitable contributions are an important itemized deduction for many taxpayers. Unfortunately many taxpayers are confused by what they should and should not claim for deductions, they do not follow protocol, and some abuse the system. Claiming tax deductions at inflated amounts or for contributions that simply were not made is not something we endorse or condone. We do not audit your charitable contribution amounts but perhaps the IRS will. Organizations like the American Red Cross or the United Way are certainly qualified charities but please be careful about other organizations especially foreign ones as to being "qualified" or not.

• "Is there an appropriate amount that I should claim for charitable contributions?"

• "Are there any limits on the amount that I can claim as a deduction?"

• "What do I need for documents, receipts and evidence to claim my charitable contributions made by check or cash?"

• "What do I need for documents, receipts and evidence to claim my charitable contributions that are non-cash?"

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

• "What is the benefit of gifting appreciated stock to charity?"

• "I volunteer as a nurse at the Red Cross blood bank - how much can I claim for my time?"

• "I bought an autographed Curt Schilling baseball at an ALS auction. I can claim that, correct?"

• "The IRS has been scrutinizing claimed charitable contributions deducted on tax returns lately, actually legislating certain changes. "What changes are they talking about?"

For help consider the IRS publication 526 - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf

For a web based interactive list of qualified charities - http://apps.irs.gov/app/pub78

Information regarding your charitable giving is entered on Sheet 15