We have been dropping tax-related knowledge over the last week.  Even though we are past the tax deadline, today's post covers taxes & charitable donations to help you prepare for next year.  Hint: we have a product that can REALLY help. This is the last of the series for this year. The first post covered some taxes tips for millennials, while the second shed some light on the difference between Deductions and Credits and why they are important.

Taxes & Charitable Donations: 

• Your made a donation to a qualified charity that was in good standing at the time of your donation. To count as a charitable donation, your gift needs to be to an eligible charity. Makes sense, fair is fair.

  • With Pinkaloo’s accounts, we solve this in two ways! First, you receive your tax receipt from our partner foundations when you deposit money INTO your account.  Boom, done. Second, we automatically verify for you that the charity you send money to from your account is eligible and in good standing.  Too easy.  Roasted.

• Timing matters. Your charitable donation must have been made by December 31, 2016 to count for your 2016 tax filing.

  • The cool thing about Pinkaloo's Modern Giving accounts is that you can fund your account anytime you want, including on December 31st, and wait until later to send money from your account to your preferred charity.

• You need to document all of your charitable gifts and keep receipts for the big ones (over $250).  Whether you donate cash or via check, card, or ACH transfer, you should keep a record of your donation.  You DEFINITELY need a receipt from the charity for any donations greater than $250.

  • You’ve probably figured out that Pinkaloo’s Modern Giving Accounts has this solved, too.  You get a receipt when you deposit into your account, and we store it for you in our Documents.  For any donations that you make outside of your account, you can also upload the receipt so that you have them all stored in one convenient place.

You have a few options to get If you want one of these awesome Modern Giving accounts, you have a few options.  We prefer to partner with awesome companies and bring them to their employees as a new perk/benefit.  Have your HR/Benefits reach out to us at moderngiving[at]pinkaloo.com to get your company started.

Alternatively you can open an account with our launch partner, the Austin Community Foundation.  It actually doesn’t actually matter if you live in Austin, you can still get all of the benefits AND you and can donate to any charity that you want.  Woo hoo.!

Pinkaloo Technologies LLC does not provide tax or legal advice. Each of us have unique circumstances and we suggest that you work with a qualified tax advisor for your specific situation.