Charitable Contributions

Westchester CPA Paul Herman has all the answers to your personal finance and taxation questions!

When preparing to file your federal tax return, don’t forget your contributions to charitable organizations. Your donations can add up to a nice tax deduction for your corporation or your personal taxes if you are a member of a flow-through business entity and itemize deductions on IRS Form 1040, Schedule A.

Here are a few tips to help make sure your contributions pay off on your tax return:

You cannot deduct contributions made to specific individuals, political organizations and candidates, the value of your time or services and the cost of raffles, bingo, or other games of chance.

To be deductible, contributions must be made to qualified organizations.

Organizations can tell you if they are qualified and if donations to them are deductible. IRS.gov has an exempt organization search feature to help you see if an organization is qualified. IRS Publication 78, Cumulative List of Organizations, lists all charitable organizations except those most recently granted tax exempt status. Pub. 78 is available online and in many public libraries.  Alternatively, contact us for more!