Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Donations and Tax Deductions

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in America, so getting involved in the effort to fight breast cancer can have a tremendous impact. You can help the community by teaching others about services and treatments available, supporting those currently in treatment, and raising money for more research.

While making donations to the community is a reward in and of itself, it can also benefit your taxes. If you volunteer and give cash or non-cash items to a 501(c)(3) organization, your donation may be a tax-deductible charitable contribution. 

Typically if you make a charitable donation to a qualified charity, you can deduct the contribution if you are able to itemize your deductions.  If you take the standard deduction, you will not be able to deduct charitable donations. For tax years 2020 and 2021, under the CARES Act, you were allowed to claim cash donations up to $300 and $600, respectively, even if you didn’t itemize your deductions…

Your Donations Make a Difference

While huge progress has been made with prevention and treatment, there is still more to do. A few popular choices for donations include the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen. There are, of course, many other worthy charities, and if you want to double-check if the organizations are recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt charitable organizations, the IRS has this handy tool you can use.

You should also know that if you purchase merchandise or services during fundraising activities, you can also deduct the amount that exceeds the value of goods or services you received. If you donate goods like clothes, you can deduct their fair market value.

Volunteering Your Time

Of course, you can give meaningfully without having to donate money. Volunteering can be a huge help for organizations and cancer patients. If part of your volunteer work involves travel, remember to keep good records! You may be able to deduct your mileage at 14 cents per mile if you travel to volunteer for qualified charitable organizations. Other travel expenses you’ll want to keep track of include lodging while you’re out of town and meals.

Don’t worry about knowing tax laws. Meet with a TurboTax Full Service expert who can prepare, sign and file your taxes, so you can be 100% confident your taxes are done right. Start TurboTax Live Full Service today, in English or Spanish, and get your taxes done and off your mind.