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If you’re planning to make significant charitable donations in the coming year, consider a donor-advised fund (DAF). These accounts allow you to take a charitable income tax deduction immediately, while deferring decisions about how much to give — and to whom — until the time is...

November 29, 2016, is Giving Tuesday. Never heard of it? Known on social media as #GivingTuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has grown into one of the biggest fundraising drives for the not-for-profit industry. Similar to Cyber Monday, it’s a day when charities...

It’s a critical time of year for the not-for-profit sector. Historically, a significant amount of charitable donations occur in the last weeks, days and even hours of the year. In fact, many charities are using “Giving Tuesday” on December 1, 2015, as a catchy...

If you’re a collector, donating from your collection instead of your bank account or investment portfolio can be tax-smart. When you donate appreciated property rather than selling it, you avoid the capital gains tax you would have incurred on a sale. And long-term gains on...

If you donate a vehicle, the value of your deduction can vary greatly depending on what the charity does with it. You can deduct the vehicle’s fair market value (FMV) if the charity: Uses the vehicle for a significant charitable purpose (such as delivering meals-on-wheels to the...

The IRS rules for substantiating deductions for charitable contributions are strict. The taxpayers in a recent U.S. Tax Court case found this out the hard way when the court denied their deduction of more than $37,000 for numerous noncash items donated to various charities. To...

2014 Charitable Donations If you don’t meet IRS substantiation requirements, your charitable deductions could be denied. To comply, generally you must obtain a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity stating the amount of the donations, whether you received any...

To take a 2014 charitable donation deduction, the gift must be made by Dec. 31, 2014. According to the IRS, a donation generally is “made” at the time of its “unconditional delivery.” But what does this mean? Is it the date you, for example, write a check or make an online gift...

The Ebola outbreak is all over the news, especially now that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported cases on U.S. soil. As of Oct. 22, the World Health Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, reported more than 9,900 reported cases of Ebola...

Do you donate your services to charity and travel to do so? While you can’t deduct the value of your services that you give to the charity, you may be able to deduct some of the out-of-pocket travel costs you incur. For the travel expenses to be deductible, the volunteer work...