How to Determine What the IRS Considers a Charitable Contribution

Video Transcript

"Do you get phone calls to make contributions all the time? I hate it when I pick up the phone and I think it's going to be one of my friends, and it's really just somebody asking for money. And all I want to say is can I deduct this, cause maybe I'll give you money. Hi, my name's Danielle Loughran. I'm a CPA with Accell, and I'm here to talk to you about what kind of donations the IRS considers for deduction. A common one, Goodwill. It's really simple. You just take your clothes there, drop it off, and they give you a nice receipt. Something that you want to make sure is that the federal EIN number is included, as well as what type of organization it is. For instance, Goodwill is a 501C3, and that's probably one of the most common charitable organizations that is tax exempt. Pretty much, as long as it has that status then you're okay to go ahead and deduct it, and the IRS isn't going to question it. Now, you have to remember that you're always supposed to have a receipt, but particularly for anything over five hundred dollars you have to make sure that you have all of the information; otherwise, you're just asking to get yourself in trouble. So next time the phone rings, your first question should be are you a tax-exempt organization? My name's Danielle. I'm a CPA with Accell, and I hope I've helped you wade through who you should be giving charitable donations to."