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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 115 responses total. |
davel
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response 50 of 115:
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Feb 11 11:21 UTC 1999 |
What? What about the thriving market in Grex memorabilia?
8-{)]
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pfv
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response 51 of 115:
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Feb 11 14:37 UTC 1999 |
and, as ever in ANY dealings with Infernal Revenues: you had
BETTER have a receipt, or you can think of yer life as grass - and
them as the rampaging mower.
Seems to me that the automated generation of reciept & love-letter
can easily be arranged to exclude those that are adamant about
NOT wanting to "play well with others"..
Just go the route of having the keesan-types email a request to
be left alone - and the printer never gets their data.
Man.. I can't believe all the noise over such a simple, polite
and sensible systemm sheeeesh.
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aruba
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response 52 of 115:
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Feb 11 14:59 UTC 1999 |
Re #47: The people who donated $75 or more didn't need to ask for receipts,
they got them automatically. So no, the requests did not come from them.
I'd rather not offer to send out paper receipts for every single donation,
but I could offer (with each thank you) to send out a full accounting at
the end of the year.
Sindi, I don't understand why Ms. Dodea at the AAS thought the IRS would
be so unhappy with our just sending e-mail receipts, but she was
*absolutely adamant* about it, and she knows more about the IRS than I do,
so I felt obliged to bow to her advice. Maybe you could ask the Sierra
Club what they do? They ought to have some members who feel as you do.
If you can get us some *highly credible* info on just how the IRS would
feel about us not sending paper receipts unless requested, I'm sure the
board would be willing to reopen the issue.
Re #51: Receipts and thank yous are not generated automatically - I do
each one by hand. I could put a column in my table that would identify
people who don't want to receive receipts, though, and check that before
generating one.
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pfv
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response 53 of 115:
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Feb 11 16:49 UTC 1999 |
Arrrrrgh!
My sympathies... Automate, baby ;-)
Although, personalized notes are a truly nice touch.
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rcurl
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response 54 of 115:
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Feb 11 17:15 UTC 1999 |
Gifts to the Sierra Club are not tax deductible. They lobby too much.
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jep
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response 55 of 115:
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Feb 11 17:48 UTC 1999 |
NEW Center has expertise in non-profit affairs. I believe Ms. Dodea was
described as an accountant, and specifically as not having expertise in
501(c)(3) issues. If there's any doubt about when receipts are
mandatory, why not ask NEW Center?
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aruba
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response 56 of 115:
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Feb 11 21:18 UTC 1999 |
Re #54: Oh. Maybe The Wilderness Conservancy is a better source? Or maybe
you could suggest a big non-profit agency which might have an interest in
not using paper, Rane?
Re #55: Wrong on both counts, I'm afraid. Ms. Dodea is not an accountant, and
her job is to advise 501(c)3 companies on their rights and responsibilities.
Her title is "Director of non-profit services".
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jep
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response 57 of 115:
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Feb 11 21:22 UTC 1999 |
re #56: Oh. I'll just slink back into my corner, then. (-:
Thanks, Mark!
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dang
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response 58 of 115:
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Feb 12 02:56 UTC 1999 |
resp:45 Tim, you are entitled to a receipt stating that you donated to
Cyberspace Communications the items that you donated. Attaching a
market value to them is your job, and we are not allowed to do that.
However, I'm sure Mark would be happy to give you a receipt for the
items. :)
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tpryan
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response 59 of 115:
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Feb 12 03:40 UTC 1999 |
Good, whatever.
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keesan
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response 60 of 115:
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Feb 12 05:01 UTC 1999 |
I have not checked my home answering machne yet today and will call the
Charities place again if no response from them. Why would someone insist that
a non-profit had to send paper receipts when the IRS does not require them
for amounts under $250? 'Experts' are often wrong or make wrong assumptions.
I may also check the New Center as suggested. Or call the IRS.
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rcurl
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response 61 of 115:
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Feb 12 05:35 UTC 1999 |
You have to substantiate any donations of any size, and receipts are a good
way to do that. That $250 point is for when the statement from the donee
must specify particular information beyond just a receipt. We (MKC) just
include the necessary boilerplate in our standard acknowledgement statement
for any size donation - which also gives a chance to send a nice "thank
you", and encourage future donations.
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aruba
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response 62 of 115:
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Feb 12 07:15 UTC 1999 |
Re #60: Sindi, all I can tell you about Ms. Dodea's opinions is to read coop
item 18, response 18.
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janc
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response 63 of 115:
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Feb 14 00:19 UTC 1999 |
I was at the meeting with Ms. Dodea. She was about as adamant on the
"you must send paper receipts" issue as it is possible to be while
remaining seated.
When I'm doing my taxes, I want to have a receipt for anything I deduct.
I think Rane's reading of the $250 rule is a more accurate reflection of
IRS policy. You have to be able to substantiate all deductions.
I think the policy as it stands is good, and absolutely standard
practice. I suppose we could consider a motion to raise the level from
$75 to something higher, but I don't really see the point.
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janc
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response 64 of 115:
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Feb 14 00:26 UTC 1999 |
On auction donations: Yes, our receipt should just say, "thank you for
donating the following items...". It should not valuate them. That is
the donor's job, not ours.
However, I consider it perfectly OK for a donor to ask us for a summary
of what his donations sold for. If he wanted it in writing, we would
respond with a letter, separate from the reciept, saying, "the items you
donated sold for $XXX". If the donor wanted to use this value for his
valuation of the objects donated, that might not be a bad choice. If
the IRS questioned his valuation, he'd have our letter to back him up.
Of course, objects might sell for more or less than their value in an
auction, so this isn't always the best policy for the donor, but it is a
plausible one and we should be perfectly willing to be helpful.
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devnull
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response 65 of 115:
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Feb 14 02:09 UTC 1999 |
Can someone point to something that the IRS has published that requires
receipts for anything under $250?
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keesan
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response 66 of 115:
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Feb 14 18:41 UTC 1999 |
I will attempt to call the IRS and get the rules on whether a nonprofit is
absolutely required to send out a piece of paper to everyone who donates.
If yes, the $75 rule makes no sense. If no, it makes no sense. Either send
to everyone whether or not they ask you not to and refuse to donate if you
do, or send only to people who request them. Most people do not even itemize,
let alone donate over $249. It may take a while to get through to the IRS
at this time of year. More by May 1 if not sooner. Maybe I can find
something online about receipts and nonprofits.
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aruba
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response 67 of 115:
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Feb 14 18:43 UTC 1999 |
Re #64: I was planning on putting the value items sold for on Tim's receipt,
since he requested it, and adding a few sentences like this:
These items were donated to Cyberspace Communications and sold at auction.
The prices listed are the amounts for which they were sold. It is up to
the donor to decide the fair market value of the items for purposes of
income tax deduction.
Rane & Jan, do you think that would be all right, or do we need to put
the prices in a separate letter?
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keesan
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response 68 of 115:
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Feb 14 19:11 UTC 1999 |
I emailed the IRS and submitted a 'general question' about whether a 501(c)3
is required to mail out pieces of paper for each donation. I mentioned that
email receipts are always sent out, and that only one donor donated over $249,
and most donors do not itemize on their federal taxes.
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rcurl
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response 69 of 115:
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Feb 14 20:35 UTC 1999 |
Of course a non-profit is not *required* to mail receipts. The law only
requires documentation if a person wishes to declare a donation as
deductible. However non-profits have limited resources and time, and time
wasted determining whether someone wants a receipt or not is time wasted.
Do you want to increase the time-wasting of a volunteer non-profit?
1040 recordkeeping instructions are on pages A4 and A5. It says "keep
cancelled checks, receipts, or other reliable written records showing the
name of the organization and the date and amount given" for gifts of cash,
and "keep a receipt or written statement...that shows the organization's
name and address, the date and location of the gift, and a description of
the property". These apply ONLY if you wish to deduct. There are
additional rules to make gifts deductible for gifts over $250, $500, and
$5,000.
They IRS does not seem to have caught up to whether an e-mail receipt is a
written record for this purpose (it surely is both written and a record).
The information that has to be given is clearly stated, so I see no reason
that an e-mail receipt would not be OK. Nothing is said about receipts or
statements being "signed".
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keesan
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response 70 of 115:
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Feb 14 23:46 UTC 1999 |
SInce only 4 people requested receipts from Mark, it would seem to be a lot
less waste of his time to send out receipts to only people who request them
instead of to 23 people (five hours, by his count). Rane, how do you know
that receipts are not required for the nonprofit?
I would not necessarily trust the woman who insisted that they are
essential. I lent money to another nonprofit, which was told by its lawyer
who specialized in nonprofits (he said) that they absolutely had to pay me
interest on the loan, and if they did not, I would still have to pay income
tax on the imputed interest. This sounded fishy to me, so I called the IRS
and they said of course not, loans to nonprofits did not have imputed
interest. So I would not go by what someone says even if they are adamant,
without some sort of written proof (some govt. document about nonprofits nad
receipts) or at least the name of the IRS advisor giving me the info.
And probably a written statement from them as well.
The library accepts my donated books but has never yet insisted on giving me
a receipt. I have to ask for them, I don't think they even routinely offer.
Usually I wait until the end of the year, after keeping my own count, and fill
in the amount myself. Same for Kiwanis (the year I itemized).
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devnull
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response 71 of 115:
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Feb 14 23:56 UTC 1999 |
Am I one of the four who wanted a receipt? (I actually specified that I
wanted whatever I need to take a deduction; now that I've seen the rules
more clearly, I'm happy relying on the canceled check.)
Next time around, I probably won't have any reason to itemize.
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keesan
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response 72 of 115:
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Feb 15 01:14 UTC 1999 |
Make that three people who think they needed a paper receipt.
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rcurl
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response 73 of 115:
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Feb 15 05:20 UTC 1999 |
As I said before, paper receipts are sent my most non-profits as public
relations tools, usually including some other information about the
organization and suggesting further donations if possibe (of $10____,
$20____, $50____, $100____, Other____), and along with the message they
send the receipt. (We just donated some old vacuum cleaners to the
PTO Thrift Shop, and they gave us a receipt without our asking saying
what we donated, and including a note that we would have to set "fair
market value" on the items for tax purposes.)
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scott
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response 74 of 115:
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Feb 15 12:05 UTC 1999 |
I would have requested a receipt, had one not automatically arrived.
It is rather fishy to be counting things without taking into account all
variables, like those people who didn't request because they didn't have to.
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