Celebrate the season with end-of-year tax deduction
Posted By Brandon Reid On December 28, 2011 @ 5:55 am In Local News, Online Exclusives | No Comments
Staff Report
Is the holiday season leaving your wallet a bit lighter? You can get a little money back from Uncle Sam by donating gently-used clothing and other unwanted household items to Goodwill Industries for an end-of-year tax deduction.
By cleaning your closets and garages, you get more than a tax deduction. Goodwill uses the revenue from your donations for its education and career services for people with barriers such as welfare dependency, homelessness, and lack of education or work experience. Goodwill enhances the lives of those in need in your very own communities.
“End the holiday season and start the new year off right by giving the gift of hope,” says Sam Schmitz, president of Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois. “Every donation to Goodwill helps make 2012 a better year for thousands of individuals who need job training and other Goodwill services.”
Goodwill accepts gently-used clothing, household items, toys, computers, cell phones – even those holiday gifts that weren’t quite right. Donations are sold in nine retail stores throughout northern Illinois and the Wisconsin stateline.
Donors interested in claiming tax deductions should keep itemized lists of their donations. The Internal Revenue Service allows a deduction for each item, but the donor determines each item’s value. Generally, an item’s value should be based on fair market value – what the item would sell for in a thrift store. Goodwill provides receipts to donors at its drop-off sites, and attendants can validate itemized lists when they are presented. For general guidelines, visit www.goodwillni.org [1] and www.irs.gov [2] (publication: www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p561.pdf [3]).
From the Dec. 28, 2011-Jan. 3, 2012, issue
Article printed from The Rock River Times: http://rockrivertimes.com
URL to article: http://rockrivertimes.com/2011/12/28/celebrate-the-season-with-end-of-year-tax-deduction/
URLs in this post:
[1] www.goodwillni.org: http://www.goodwillni.org
[2] www.irs.gov: http://www.irs.gov
[3] www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p561.pdf: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p561.pdf
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