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Grex > Coop10 > #119: How often should the treasurer send out paper receipts? |  |
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aruba
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How often should the treasurer send out paper receipts?
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Jul 10 03:58 UTC 1998 |
Just the other day I received the first request for a receipt to enable
someone who donates money to Grex to deduct it on their taxes. (The
request was contingent on our becoming a 501(c)3 organization, of course.)
That started me wondering whether I will need to send out receipts for
every single donation we receive. Right now I do send e-mail to
acknowledge every donation, but sending out that many paper receipts would
be a significant amount of work and expense, and I suspect most people
wouldn't really want them anyway. (Everyone who takes the standard
deuction, for instance, might as well just throw them away.)
What does everyone think - do I need to send out paper receipts for every
check? My suggestion is that at the end of the year I send e-mail to
everyone who donated throughout that year, telling them that they are
entitled to a receipt if they'd like one. Then I'll send them out to
those people that request them.
Another question I need answered is what needs to be on the receipt in
order to make it acceptable to the IRS. Anyone know?
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| 72 responses total. |
rcurl
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response 1 of 72:
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Jul 10 05:12 UTC 1998 |
Request IRS Catalog No. 20054Q (or its most current incarnation). It
may be on the web. The title is "Charitable Contributions - Substantiation
and Disclosure Requirements".
Written acknowledgements are only *required* for donations in excess of
$250. For that reason, I would opine that e-mail acknowledgements for
smaller donations would be fine, especially coupled with an offer to
provide a written acknowledgement. The acknowledgement should, in any
case, be sent as quickly as possible, if only to indicate appreciation
for the donation (and keep them coming.....).
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mdw
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response 2 of 72:
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Jul 10 07:53 UTC 1998 |
You could also ask for a SASE for people who really want a written
receipt.
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aruba
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response 3 of 72:
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Jul 10 13:09 UTC 1998 |
Re #1: I do send the e-mail acknowledgement as quickly as possible, for the
reason you state. But it would save time and money if I could send out paper
receipts only at the end of the year. (And people who make more than one
donation in the course of the year would only need to save one receipt.)
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bruin
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response 4 of 72:
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Jul 10 13:18 UTC 1998 |
The email confirmation is all I'll ever need, aruba.
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mta
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response 5 of 72:
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Jul 10 15:33 UTC 1998 |
I would think that in most cases an "end of the tax year" reciept would be more
than adequate. (Maybe even better, since you don't have as much time to lose
it before you file your taxes.)
I also think that a mention that paper reciepts are available for tax purposes
attached to the e-mail acknowledgement and perhaps another toward the end of
the last quarter should be enough.
My opinion, of course, and I know nothing about these things.
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jared
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response 6 of 72:
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Jul 12 15:25 UTC 1998 |
Upon request or for individual donations morethan $250. end of year
recepits are also available upon request.
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janc
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response 7 of 72:
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Jul 13 04:40 UTC 1998 |
A question I've been wondering about, and have been meaning to research.
How do we handle auctions donations?
Suppose Dee donates an object and Bee buys it for 10 dollars.
Presumably, we need to figure out the value of the object, say V
dollars, and Dee gets credit for a donation to Grex of V dollars, while
Bee gets credit for a donation to Grex of 10-V dollars. That seems
obvious enough.
But how do we come up with the value V?
And what if V is greater than 10? Should we always set the minimum bid
at V dollars to ensure this doesn't happen? If we publicize the "value"
of an object, would that discourage people from bidding above that
value?
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rcurl
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response 8 of 72:
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Jul 13 17:46 UTC 1998 |
Grex can not put a value on goods donated (against IRS regulations) and
the person buying the item cannot deduct what they pay. The only deductible
quantity is the value put on the donated item by the donor and only the
donor can claim that.
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