Donating to a charity is a great way to help get a break on your taxes. Sure you’re still paying money, however with charitable donations you have direct say over where your hard earned dollars are going rather than towards a nebulous government spending account. This is a fantastic way for people to protest government spending decisions without actually breaking the law and evading taxes. Unfortunately engineering a charitable deduction can be a little bit more complicated that most nonprofits would like; however with a little bit of work on your part it does not have to be terribly difficult.
The most important task at hand is finding an organization that you wish to donate to in order to create a charitable deduction for your taxes. Fortunately the IRS has made it as easy as possible to find these organizations both with Internet tools as well as a telephone hotline.
Once you have a charity in mind navigate to the IRS website and use their online tools to verify the nonprofit status of the charity. It is unfortunately all too common to find charities who lie about their nonprofit status so verifying your charitable deduction always an important step before writing any checks.
If for whatever reason you are unable to verify your potential charitable deduction using the Internet tools the IRS has provided for you; then it is time to actually call the IRS and verify the charity over the phone. The IRS provides a toll-free help line for just this occurrence. Simply dial 1-877-829-5500 to be connected to an IRS operator who can help you out with your problem.
Don’t let the process of finding an eligible charity discourage you from making a charitable deduction on your taxes. Donating to a cause you believe in is always a worthwhile endeavor even if it takes a few extra steps on your part to make sure everything is above pale.
