Do you tend to ask for a receipt when you donate to charity? I don't. Not that I'm against it, if that's what someone else wants to do. For me, personally, donating means I give something freely, without asking for anything in return, not even a receipt to take it off my taxes. To each his own though. I was just curious. Is it enough to be concerned about on the tax bill? Does it make a difference?
I donate a lot of stuff to charity but I have never asked for a receipt for any of it. I, like you, give it freely and expect nothing back in return.
I don't take receipts either. I keep a log of how much I spend anyways on my computer. Receipts are usually kept for return and I believe that once I pay for charity, I must never again ask for that money back. It belongs to that company and that's where it should stay.
I was surprised to hear of this in the US as my friend who was donating stuff was offered a receipt. I guess for some businesses they need to account for things, so if you are self-employed you need to show where the old desk went and why you need to buy a new one on your tax return. We don't have the system in the UK; if we did I think it would get abused.
Let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing. When I donate anything be it money or something to charity I seek neither gratitude nor any acknowledgment of sorts. Give and forget, that's what I do. I didn't know about the tax angle though . . . sounds tempting, to be honest.
I don't think you should be worried about being judged if you do ask for a receipt. I've donated lots of close to my local Goodwill, I always get a receipt, but I hardly ever use it. On the other side of the coin, the tax returns that you do get from places like the Goodwill can be pretty substantial.. One thing I did not realize is that places like Goodwill actually have set amounts for items that are donated ahead of time. There's even a website you can visit that will tell you how much you can expect to get from items that you donate. So if you have items like clothing that you are willing to give away, and have a lot of them, it might actually be worth it for you to itemize those things and get the actual value listed. Once again, it all depends on how many things you have, and how much of that you actually want to go through to get that kind of write-off.
I haven't tried asking for a receipt for the things I donated. I am giving it to other people who need it more than I do. Besides it is better to give than to receive.. Some people may ask, there is nothing wrong with that. It is their thing. They can do anything. But as for me, I don't do that.
I usually drop things off in Goodwill donation drop off boxes, so there isn't a live person there to request a receipt from. I think just donating and simplifying my life are rewards in themselves.
If you care about the tax breaks for donating to charity, then you have to get those receipts because you're more likely to be audited with large amounts of charitable donations. Of course, you wind up getting penalized to no end if you can't produce proof of your donations, so you need those receipts. I don't care about the tax breaks because they don't really help, so I don't ask for receipts when donating to charity, but I know that most people do.
We never did it before, I only found out that you could actually do it not long ago. I'm definitely not against asking for it, however I will usually donate a few clothes at a time and I would feel embarrassed to ask for a receipt for that.
I would take the tax write-offs, especially if I were making some large donations. In fact, I had no idea you could even get tax write offs for making donations until a few years ago, and I was kicking myself, because I've in the past donated a lot of stuff, such as entire closet fulls of clothing that was in near new condition, not to mention furniture that was still in very good shape. I stopped donating to GoodWill and Salvation Army though several years ago because of their business practices (goodwill) and their discriminatory practices hiding behind the excuse of religious fundamentalism (salvation army). You can read more about both at the links below: Log In Log In There are plenty of other better charities out there you can donate to, if you do some due diligence in advance. Even if you feel uncomfortable taking a credit for your donations, that doesn't mean you have to keep that credit - you can donate that as well in some form or fashion - such as buying food and donating that to the local food banks. At least you know your money is going towards helping the homeless, and not being skimmed off by some greedy politicians.
I don't really care about the tax break giving to charity allows on the tax return, sometimes I get a receipt but mostly I don't ask for a receipt. Also I drop items off after closing so there is no one there to give me a receipt.
I take the receipt. It doesn't hurt the charity in any way for me to get the tax-break for the donation.Honestly, the tax break is one of the few reasons I take stuff to a charity instead of either tossing it in the trash or selling it myself. Because I am a freelancer/contract worker and get paid on a 1099, I usually owe taxes. That tax break helps me a lot.
I didn't at first until I found out that you can take a deduction to lower your tax liability. With contributions over $500 I provide the required tax form and include my personal list of all items and their values from the organization's value guide. As Feneth stated it helps a lot.
