The federal government encourages charitable giving. There is no law in the United States that limits how many different days during a given year you can make a charitable donation to a particular organization. Give ten bucks daily to Goodwill every day of the year if you like. As long as the organization is a registered, credible charity, and your record-keeping is up to snuff, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) won't care in the least if you claim the deduction.The charity of choice must be recognized by the IRS as a nonprofit organization, which means they must have received tax-exempt status. If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of the charity, contact the IRS or the applicable state's department of revenue to see if the appropriate paperwork is on file. While you can certainly donate cash or property to anyone you like, don't expect a tax deduction without performing due diligence.
The IRS requires stellar record-keeping if you plan to deduct charitable donations from your taxes. In the first place, you must itemize your deductions using Form 1040 Schedule A. It's a good idea to keep proof of the donation in the form of receipts, canceled checks, appraisals of donated property and notes from the organization. You need proof for each donation, regardless of whether they occurred on the same day or at various times throughout the year.
The only thing you need to be concerned with is that you don't pass the limit set by the IRS and expressed as a percentage of your adjusted gross income (AGI). Cash gifts can be deducted up to 50 percent of your income, while property donations can't exceed 30 percent of income, and donations of appreciated capital gains assets cannot be more than 20 percent.
If the sum total of donations you made in any single calendar year exceed the established limits, you can carry the deduction over into the next tax year. The time limit for carrying deductions is five years. If you still have an outstanding balance after that, no more deduction can be claimed. You cannot deduct the value of time spent working for a nonprofit organization. The word for that is simply volunteerism.
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