By Bart Siegel, CPA

A nice thing about charitable contributions is that, unlike medical or miscellaneous deductions, there is no threshold amount to meet. You can give as little as $5 and still add it to the rest of your itemized deductions. You may generally take charitable contribution deductions up to 50% of your adjusted gross income.
And you’re not limited to monetary donations. You can give merchandise, appreciated assets, count the miles you drive for a worthy cause, even deduct part of the price of a ticket you purchased to attend a charity event.
But there still are a few IRS rules you must follow to make sure your contributions pay off at filing time.
To be deductible, contributions must be made to qualified organizations. For example, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy have been determined to be qualified under the Internal Revenue Service Code Section 501(c)3 as a tax exempt charitable organization. The exempt purposes set forth in IRC Section 501(c)(3) are charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.
If you get anything in return for your donation -- merchandise, goods, services, admission to a charity ball, banquet, theatrical performance or sporting event -- you can deduct only the amount that exceeds the fair market value of the charity’s thank-you token or benefit. For example, if you give your local PBS station $100 and get a $25 videotape of a Masterpiece Theater performance in return, you can only deduct $75.
Acknowledgment of your largesse is necessary when your gifts are large. For a contribution of $250 or more, you must get a written receipt of your donation from the qualified organization before you can claim the deduction.
When you donate more than $500 worth of goods to charity, you must include with your tax return Form 8283. This form is for non-cash Charitable Contributions. Take this deduction amount and forget the form, and the IRS may disallow your claim.
In an even bigger giving mood? If you claim a deduction of more than $5,000 for an item, the IRS wants more than just your word. You must have a qualified appraiser provide the value and then attach an appraisal summary (Section B of Form 8283) to your tax return.
Generally, your donations cannot be for more than 50 percent of your adjusted gross income. You can carry over your excess contributions for up to five more tax years, but your carryover amounts will still be subject to the original adjusted gross income limitation rules.
If you opt instead to take the standard deduction when you file your return, the choice made by most taxpayers, your donations will still help the organizations you give to, but they won’t help cut your tax bill. You can’t add your donation totals to your standard deduction to increase that amount.
Driving home deductions
Volunteer work itself does not produce a tax deduction. However, your travel expenses getting to and from the volunteer location are deductible. If you use your car to help out once you get there (for example, delivering food to the needy for your church), that counts, too.
You can take a standard deduction of 14 cents per mile on your tax return. Or, if it’s more advantageous and you kept track, you can deduct the actual cost of your gas for your philanthropic driving. With either choice, you also can include