Before Santa comes to visit, here is a year-end tax savings tip to consider:

Go through your house and garage and see what items you have not used in the last two years and donate them to charity.  You can clean out space for all the new toys that are coming and receive a tax deduction for it!

The IRS requires that these non-cash donations must be in “good condition or better.”  Furthermore, you can only deduct the Fair Market Value (FMV) of the items donated.  Access the Salvation Army’s Valuation Guide for Donated Items.

If the FMV exceeds $500 you will need to complete Form 8283 as part of your tax return.  On this form you will need to list: name and address of the donee organization, date of the contribution, description of the items donated, FMV and the original cost of the items donated.

If you donate a car, or have non-cash contributions exceeding $5,000 give us a call to discuss the details.

We hope Santa is good to you this year while you take as many tax deductions as you can.

Is TTW Real?
While your kids are questioning if santa is real, we've received some interesting feedback that some of you don't realize this is really Bradstreet CPAs reaching out each week (... some suspect this is a "packaged" communication to which we add our logo.) Well, rest assured it's us and we'd love to hear from you. Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered or SUBMIT a Tax Tip of the Week question.

Enjoy the week and  yes, Virgina, there is a Santa Claus,
Rick Prewitt - the guy behind TTW

Questions about year-end-tax strategies? In Dayton, call 937-436-3133 and in Xenia, call 937-372-3504. Or visit http://www.bradstreetcpas.com.

...until next week.