Tax Tips 2017: Charitable Donations
Charitable Donations
One easy way to reduce your tax liability and give back to your community is by making donations of money, goods and time. Keeping track of the cash and goods you have given to charity is easy to remember, but those are not the only things you should keep track of.
If you volunteer your time at your local soup kitchen or food bank, you are not able to deduct any amount for the time you spent there. However, you deduct the cost of getting there and back. For your kind acts to help others, the IRS will allow you to deduct 14 cents per mile as well as any parking or toll fees.
Making food for a charitable cause also qualifies as a deduction. Similarly to the previous example, the time is deductible but the cost of the ingredients are. Keeping receipts is important to be able to write off the cost. If the costs are over $250, then there needs to be verification from the charity of the contribution.
Overall, the IRS allows the following travel expenses,
- Air, rail and bus fares
- Out of Pocket expenses for a car
- Taxi fares
- Lodging
- Meals
The IRS will only allow these deductions if you are on duty in a genuine and substantial sense throughout the trip.
If you want to know if you qualify for these deductions, give us a call at (714)-533-2600 to schedule a free consultation to make sure you are maximizing your deductions.
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