Author Topic: charitable donation deductions  (Read 1972 times)

TheGibberingPotato

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charitable donation deductions
« on: February 01, 2015, 04:04:18 PM »
Last year I donated some household goods to the Salvation Army (clothes, dining ware, video game systems, etc...).  I have a receipt of the donation, have detailed photos documenting it, and have the value estimated by a convenient turbotax website program.
My question is, is there any general advice out there on this process with out triggering and IRS audit / etc...?

The total value of my donation is just over $500 meaning that I have to include Form 8283.  Is $500 a cutoff point that you generally don't want to go over if you want to avoid IRS attention?  I'm not doing anything shady...

Thanks!

MDM

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Re: charitable donation deductions
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2015, 09:29:04 PM »
People like you who have all the appropriate documentation should not (but too often do) worry about an audit.  Claim what you are entitled to claim, and rest easy.


darkadams00

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Re: charitable donation deductions
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2015, 11:03:34 AM »
Fraud analyst here---

Document what you claim re income, expenses, contributions, deductions, credits, etc. Period. The IRS/state DOR might flag you for any amount because amounts are only one aspect of why a tax return is flagged. If your documentation is questionable or non-existent, that casts more doubt on your return than some amount threshold. Some church-goers give extremely high amounts of their income to their church--much more than is seen in the overall population. Full documentation helps. Some people give a disproportionate amount to a charity following a crucial life event, e.g. loss of a loved one. Full documentation helps. The Internet can help you understand the level of documentation that is needed. You can also call the IRS/state DOR anonymously and ask specific questions.

Pay what you owe but no more. That's neither tax evasion nor tax fraud. That's tax smarts.