2010 donations for Haiti credit for 2009 possible problem

[lincolnda]

We have been getting donations for the Haiti earthquake relief that we forward on to the relief organization sponsored by our denomination. Congress has passed that donations for Haiti given through Feb 2010 will be tax deductible for 2009, but that people don't have to claim the deduction in 2009, but can wait for 2010 tax returns to claim it. I can foresee a big problem printing statements that include this correctly coming up. By now most churches have probably already printed the 2009 contribution statements. OK, so we can print after Feb extra statements containing just the dontions for Haiti to send out, but, how do we filter out those donations from the 2010 statements next Jan so that people don't get a chance to claim the contributions again for 2010 tax deductions? We could give the Haiti donations a fund number above the range of numbers we use for all the rest of the donations, and not include that number when printing the statements for 2010, but what about the provision that people don't have to claim them for 2009, and can wait to claim them for 2010? By printing excluding that fund number, those people would not have the Haiti donations on their statements, and we would have to print a whole different set of statements for those people that want to claim the deduction in 2010 instead of 2009, and only if we knew who they were!!! By just giving them the extra statement in Feb we would not know for sure that they used the deduction for 2009 instead of for 2010!!!

[NeilZ]

We have been getting donations for the Haiti earthquake relief that we forward on to the relief organization sponsored by our denomination. Congress has passed that donations for Haiti given through Feb 2010 will be tax deductible for 2009, but that people don't have to claim the deduction in 2009, but can wait for 2010 tax returns to claim it. I can foresee a big problem printing statements that include this correctly coming up. By now most churches have probably already printed the 2009 contribution statements. OK, so we can print after Feb extra statements containing just the dontions for Haiti to send out, but, how do we filter out those donations from the 2010 statements next Jan so that people don't get a chance to claim the contributions again for 2010 tax deductions? We could give the Haiti donations a fund number above the range of numbers we use for all the rest of the donations, and not include that number when printing the statements for 2010, but what about the provision that people don't have to claim them for 2009, and can wait to claim them for 2010? By printing excluding that fund number, those people would not have the Haiti donations on their statements, and we would have to print a whole different set of statements for those people that want to claim the deduction in 2010 instead of 2009, and only if we knew who they were!!! By just giving them the extra statement in Feb we would not know for sure that they used the deduction for 2009 instead of for 2010!!!

What I would do is this:

This bill will allow Haitian contributions given between Jan. 12 and Feb. 28 count toward an individual's or family's 2009 taxes.

1. Put the Haiti donations in a separate fund account, as you mentioned, outside of the normal fund numbers.
2. On March 1st, run a special contribution statement for this Haitian Fund, and send it out to those families it prints for.
3. On the bottom of the statement you can include in the memo area something like this:

On Jan 21st, the Congress passed a special bill that allows any donations to Haitian relief given between Jan 12th and Feb 28th can be claimed on either your 2009 or 2010 taxes. This will be the only statement you will get that reflects your donation so please file with your other tax papers.

In this way, the church has given the appropriate contribution statement, but you don't have to worry about whether or not they're claiming in for 2009 or 2010. Then in Jan 2011 just do your normal end of year statements, leaving out the Haitian fund.

This is similar to the way many churches and charities (think Salvation Army) give donation receipts for non-cash items, its up to the contributor to hold on to the receipt for use on their taxes.

Hope this helps.

[lincolnda]

Thanks, that does help a lot.