Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Receipts?

{photo via Flickr}

I am once again looking to you for the answer.
I have found that I donate clothing, household items, etc.. a lot. I'm really good at keeping my home at an 'uncrowded' level. It's simple really, when new things come in.. old things go. Come to think of it, old things go even when I don't get new things. And you know what? Whenever they ask if I want a donation receipt, I NEVER get one. Frankly I haven't really cared until now. I realize that I donate a LOT and perhaps this is adding up to something useful. So my question is, is it worth it? Will it really make a difference on our taxes? I just feel like waiting to have them add everything up would be somewhat tedious, but if it'll save me a hundred bucks here and there on taxes, who knows? So tell me from experience, has it done YOU very much good?

Thanks.
PS. Have a lovely Tuesday.

6 comments:

Michelle said...

On your itemized deductions, if you save or get those little receipts, you can write off up to $500 dollars without having to do any extra paperwork... so I would say YES to asking for receipts. Each year, I store them in a folder marked taxes 09. Also save all the educational receipts too...books, tuition, etc.

quietrope said...

yes. we write it all off. Including tithing, thats why they give you the paper work at the end of the year. You can write off up to $500 with out reciets and paperwork to show for it, but after that, if you fill out a bunch of extra papers you can write off up to $50,000.
But i guess it just depends on you income and tax situation in the first place for it to make a difference.

{Erica} said...

What "Shrope family" said is right...however I would like to add that it matters what tax bracket you are in and also what other taxes, deductions etc you have if it makes it worth it or not. Just as your CPA, they'll know best. Also, I always get a donation recipt and include it in with our tax papers to our CPA and he decides if it's beneficial for us or not....

Merkley Jiating said...

Yep. Do it.

Unknown said...

Amen to what Erica said. Tax brackets do matter. I donated a car one year but we didn't have enough donations to make a difference even with tithing. Lame. Just give it all to the CPA that is their job:)

Kjrsten said...

I donate a trunk full once a month. I just started collecting the recipts a few years ago. It makes a difference. It only takes a few minutes to catalog/store, it's worth it!