Tax deduction article reference...
 

[QUOTE=ghostrider;5905457]Some resources to check out.
Tax deduction info for charity quilting
http://www.quiltcentric.com/2013/01/...rity-quilting/
etc.

Thanks for the link to my article. For those who are interested, I interviewed a tax expert from the H&R Block Tax Institute to find out about what documentation is needed to get a tax deduction for charity quilting, and what the IRS rules are about taking the deduction. This article is the result, posted on my blog. I hope it helps someone!

Janelle

My pleasure, Janelle. You summed everything up quite clearly and specifically from a quilter's point of view. Nicely done. Welcome to the Quilting Board. :)

This is what I was told by a tax preparer for an individual tax return. You can deduct what YOU paid out and that you have a receipt for. (thread, fabric, batting and if you had a bill from a long arm quilter) Don't use anything from your stash (unless you have the receipt). You cannot deduct anything for your time. It may be different if you do quilting as a business, but if you do not have a formal business, then you can't claim anything for your time. So if you get a kit from a charity, all you could deduct would be your thread and batting. If you had the receipt.

Tax deduction
 

I ask the person receiving my charity quilts to sign a receipt for them on which I include the yardage, material types, and thread. Not a lot for just one quilt but it adds up over the year. This irritates me so much as there is no credit given for hours of labor but that's the way it is.

For me personally when I create a quilt to donate to an individual or group I do it out of love wanting to help them have a better life. Otherwise I would not do it.

Years ago when I had lots of stuff to get rid off I donated to organizations like Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc and they would give me a blank piece of paper and I was to fill out the value of what I felt it was worth. I usually would put no more than 25% retail value. I use to take those deductions of my taxes each year but than it got to be to cumbersome because tax code only allows a certain amount overall each year and the difference can be claimed the next year. It really did not help me much so I quit doing it.

Now I just donate and refuse a receipt! My attitude is that I'm donating out of love to help others and that is good enough for me.

If I see a need regarding quilts and/or blankets I just make them and give them away. I call it "paying it forward" which blesses the folks I give it to and the good Lord keeps blessing me in many ways more than I ever expected in this life time.

It seems that there are several issues here:

Understanding and following the IRS rules on charitable deductions.

Feeling confident that the charity understands and follows the IRS rules.

Feeling confident that the charity and those volunteers and staff who handle the donations are honest and responsible in their care and distribution of donations.

Anaylsis of our own motivations in making and giving quilts and our expectations of the recipients.

Sometimes issues can get blurred, and we have to stop and look closely at what is the central problem.

Dayle

You should get a receipt for your donation. You can make your own receipt and just have a representative of the charity sign it for you to make it easy. Also you can ask for a receipt since many charities may forget to offer it to you if not asked. This can help quite a bit when doing your taxes since quilts are very expensive to make. If they don't offer you need to ask. A friend of mine and I were having this discussion this weekend and she had made her own receipt and brought it along when she delivered prayer shawls to a charity and they had told her she was showing to low of an amount for her shawls. So I would say make sure you get the receipt. You can still go back to the charities that you have donated to and request a receipt since they have neglected to give it to you. Good Luck and good for you for donating to such needy charities.

If everyone was a volunteer, some may know tax rules better than others. It may not have been a slight to you personally. It may even have been a learning curve for the volunteer. Someone else may have recently taken charge and insisted everyone be given a tax receipt.

We always just take the standard deduction. Itemizing and then keeping track of receipts and then have a senior moment (which occurs more often these days) and forgetting where we put them. Also, we have accumulated so much in the years that we have lived here, that I'm thinking of throwing out a lot of old receipts/paperwork. I wonder if it's okay to throw stuff out that is 10 plus years? Just how far back does the IRS go when they do an audit?

you can claim the supplies used = fabric, batting, thread - on your taxes but you cannot claim the labor.

We do the same thing.....no tax deduction here..just or the love of it:)