During this time of year, there is a strong push by several non-profit organizations asking for monetary donations to help set them up for next year or an important holiday program.

Tom Kennedy is a Certified Public Accountant with Hankel and Associates and reminds everyone who makes a charitable donation to make sure there is documentation when filing for income taxes next year. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio people that give $250 or more in a one-time donation are required to have documentation, but he advises to never pay for donations that you want to deduct in cash.

“Say even if it’s under $250, you can’t say ‘I gave this much in cash,’ you’ve got to have some kind of documentation. So it’s better to write a check or get the organization to give you a slip that says how much it was.”   

Kennedy talks about another common mistake people make with charitable donations and claiming it as a deduction on their income tax filings.

“The thing to be careful with when you buy cookies from any organization or food, the value of the food is not deductible, it’s only if there’s a charitable portion of it that’s above that. So, I’m sure people make that mistake and deduct that. But that’s usually not big dollars.”    

Kennedy adds that individuals who are at least 70.5 years of age and have an IRA account, are required to do minimum distributions on an annual basis and that amount could be given to a non-profit organization as a charitable donation.