Get Credit for Your Charitable Giving at Tax Time

Chances are you gave money to charity last year, or pitched in for a good cause. At tax time, make sure you get full credit for all your good work.

For starters, as long as you itemize deductions, you can write off cash gifts to any qualified charity. But you’ll need to pull together the right paperwork — and save it.

For gifts worth $250 or more, you need a receipt from the charity. For smaller gifts, a cancelled check or credit card receipt should do the trick.

To make sure you don’t overlook any online donations, search your email in-box for words like “gift” or “donation” and look over your credit card statements.

If you volunteered, the value of your time is not deductible, but some of your out-of-pockets costs could be, including supplies and $0.14 a mile for driving.

You can also take a deduction for the fair market value of any clothes and household items you gave away, as long as they were in good condition or better. For help in determining value of donated goods, check out the online guides from the Salvation Army and Goodwill.