The Most Common Types of Church Claims
With the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) extending its filing deadline to July 15, 2020, taxpayers have gotten ample time to get their information together. However, you still need to know about specific methods to file your federal tax return without any issues.
In states in the south, one of the most common questions while filing tax information pertains to church claims. Since this data allows you to deduct any donations made to churches, it is crucial to learn which gifts can be deducted from your taxes.
Here are the common types of church claims in the south.
1. Cash Payments
Since cash payments are easy and fast, most donors use this to execute their gifts to various organizations. If you often make your donations to churches, it wouldn’t be a surprise to know that one of the most common church claims in the south also comes in the form of cash payments.
How to Claim Them
Remember that when you make a cash donation to a church, you can claim it in your tax return. But to do so, you need to make sure that you are following the proper procedure.
As a rule of thumb, you can only make church claims in your tax return if you properly mention them during the filing process. This means that you not only have to document them in your tax return, but you also need to have a proof of transaction. This can include a written receipt from the church that details the amount and date of your donation.
2. Check Payments
While most church donations are handled in the form of cash, check payments are another common way of making donations. To the IRS, check payments are not any different from cash payments. That is to say, if you have made a donation to a church via check, it needs to be properly documented and itemized on your tax return.
How to Claim Them
You can make your church claims for check donations via your tax return. As with cash payments, you need to have a record of the transaction. If you don’t have some sort of tangible record against your donation, your claim can get rejected.
For check payments, the donation receipt by your church is an efficacious way of handling their proof of transaction. The record on your bank statement is also sufficient.
3. Property Claims
It happens so often that you offer up a beloved heirloom or any other item of value to the church. In terms of IRS perception, this can also be a tax deductible donation. This is why, it happens to be yet another popular form of church claims in the general south.
How to Claim Them
As long as you have a written acknowledgement or receipt from the church about your property donation, you can make a church claim in your federal tax return.
However, if the item or property causes your total tax year donations to exceed 50 percent of your adjusted gross income, the exceeding amount does not qualify as tax deductible. With that being said, you can claim it within your next 5 personal tax returns.
Another emerging method of church claims is through online payment apps. But it is not as popular of a method and is only followed by select churches in the state.
Whichever way you make your donation, it is important to note that it only qualifies as a church claim if you have a proper proof of transaction against it. As long as you keep this in mind, you can properly file the donation in your federal tax return.