Originally Posted by
bobbybrown
Yeah, I'm an amateur in this field, but turbotax always disregard my donations for the last couple of years (a few hundred bucks each year) saying "standard deduction" is bigger than itemized deduction.
Yeah, if you're taking the standard deduction, you won't get to deduct your donations. But there are several reasons that would cause you to itemize (the biggest one is deducting interest on a mortgage). If you're itemizing, you can deduct any amount of charitable contribution. Just wanted to make sure nobody was discouraged from donating to this cause in general.
To answer the poster above: I wouldn't deduct this as a charitable contribution. You shouldn't really be getting anything in return for your contribution. Charitable contribution deductions are also scrutinized by the IRS more closely than other items on the tax form, so I wouldn't risk setting of alarm bells over a $100 deduction.