Charitable Giving Information

Archive for the ‘General Deductions’ Category

Charitable Giving Limits

Question: Do Obama and the Democrats want to limit deductions for charities because they don’t give anyway?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/us/27charity.html?_r=1
Wealthy donors and the nonprofit groups they support were in an uproar over the Obama administration’s proposal to limit the value of deductions for charitable gifts, which was included in the budget the president presented to Congress.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/25/obama-gave-only-1-of-inc_n_93376.html

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle gave $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities, or less than 1 percent, according to tax returns for those years released today by his campaign.

Answer: I think that this is a back door assault on religious charities and they believe that it will cause less of a stir than directly taxing the organizations themselves.

Tax Shelters in Canada 6 - Limits to charitable donations

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Charitable Giving Forms

Question: Income Tax Question – Form 8283 Charitable Deductions (noncash)?

I need a little help. I’ve been told 2 different things, so I need to confirm which is correct.

I use Turbo Tax to do my taxes. I usually have non-cash contributions of over $ 1000 each year, costing about $ 75-200 for each. I get a copy of the receipt that Goodwill gives me and keep it with each donation. I use Its Deductible to plan how much to deduct for each item. Turbotax then fills out Form 8283 because the total of all my contributions is over $500.

*** Here’s the problem: My mother told me her tax person said that you can’t claim non-cash donations each year over $ 500 unless they give you an appraisal. **** Isn’t that just if an INDIVIDUAL item is worth over $ 500?? Not if you give away, say… Goodwill 2-10-07 $ 201.00, Goodwill 3-4-07 $ 122.00, Goodwill 8-14-07 $ 175.00, Goodwill 11-1-07 $ 98.00 ???

Any help from a CPA or someone who does tax preparation would be really appreciated.

Thanks!!

Answer: You can only deduct what the items may sell for. For donations to Goodwill or similar charities, that's typically between 10¢ and 20¢ on the dollar of the new price of the items at best. If challenged at audit, you must be able to provide a detailed inventory of all items donated and the individual values of the items.

The rules on non-cash donations are complex. See IRS Pub 526 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf for general guidelines on charitable donations and IRS Pub 561 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p561.pdf for more detailed information on establishing the value of donated property.

Planned Parenthood 'Registers' in Haiti and Other Places

Charitable Giving Republican Democrat

Question: Why do Rich Blue state people need government to take care of them, but people in Poorer Red States, don’t?

Could it be because People in Red states are more charitable and take care of those who need help, without being forced by government to do it?

This is the case. It’s a statistical fact that Republicans and Independents give far more than Democrats, while making on average substantially less money. And in my observation make their money by producing, while the Blue state thing tends to be more parasitic in nature on average. Blue voters definitely do more parasitic activity on average, especially lawyers, and Unions who use leverage not of market force to unnaturally raise their pay for doing less work. Note, I said on average.

Answer: On average as you say, Blue Stater's are in a culture of parasitism, as you also say. They only know where money comes from to them so they can get it, but they really don't understand the nuts and bolts of production of wealth, or the cause and effect of creating a nation that creates more wealth so that everyone can have more of it.

To the Blue staters on average more than the red staters, much more, government is a tool to be manipulated into bringing them more wealth or paying their bills. They really don't get the concept of carefully caring for and inspiring the goose that lays the golden egg, which is production of wealth that should be incentivized, so there is more of it around.

Dirty politicians use this Blue state philosophy based on a lack of understanding about the cause and effect, to get them to vote for that which will bring them political power. They also degrade and erode the countries economy and upset the golden goose, but they don't care, they get more all at once from killing the golden goose, then they have theirs as the rest of the country goes down.

STOP US Govt. Taxing Non-Profits! Elect Frank Mazzapica US Congress

Charitable Giving Percentages

Question: What percent of your income do you give to charities?

This is just a survey done out of curiosity. Please don’t tell me how much you “give” to the US government in taxes. I am simply looking for percentages for giving to charitable organizations – churches, homeless shelters, food banks, etc.
Thanks!

Answer:         Because I round up, I give just a bit over 20% off the gross of my regular income to my denomination (10% tithe, 5% to my local church, 2.5% to my local conference, and 2.5% to the world conference). Then, I have a side-line business which I perform from my website. The income from that I give 35% to an independent ministry (www.BibleExplorations.com) and another 35% to a local poor fund (called, April's Blessing) which is managed by my Sabbath School group.

God bless.

Planned giving options, including bequests, trust funds and foundations

Giving To Charity And Taxes

Question: How much can I right off when giving to charity?

Ok lets say hypothetically that I gave 50% of my gross income to a charity last year. How much can I right off and not owe taxes on?

Answer: Depending on what you're giving and who you're giving it to, the limits range from 20% to 50% of your AGI. 50% is for total contributions. See IRS Publication 17, Chapter 24 or other IRS documents.

Obviously it is only legal to deduct what you actually gave. You can be asked by the IRS to prove that you actually made the contributions you claim.

Liberals Have Really Big Balls