5000 Delta Miles for $100 Donation
 

Just got an email on this today. Go to http://www.mlkmemorial.org/ You can get 5,000 Delta miles for a $100 donation. Limited to first 5,000 donations.

Not looking for more Delta miles personally, but need to pay forward an idea to FT.

i think the email was sent to all who have it on file w/delta....i did it to extend my mi's that are expiring.....

If you donate $100 under this offer; how much of tax deduction do you think you can take on your US taxes?

Well, Delta values miles at $0.028 per mile (that's what they sell them for, not counting any bonus offers). Under this offer, you obtain miles at $0.020 each. Therefore, you are receiving $40 worth of "free" miles. So, you OWE taxes on $40.

I didn't see the first 5,000 people statement, but is it for the 5,000 miles or both offers?

Don't even expect any tax deduction at all from any kinds of donation unless you donate major part of your income (i.e. 10k USD or so).

Haiti is probably a more pressing issue to donate towards and one worthy of donating even without the prospects of earning miles.

This is just flat-out not true. If you're itemizing, you're doing your taxes wrong if you think this.

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. So I don't expect any tax return from my little donations.

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.

Oh, thanks for the corrections. Didn't know that. Well, I will do some donation no matter what, and bonus miles are always welcome. :)

+1

Never really a big fan of Delta, but as someone who lived and worked in Haiti, I see this as a generous step and applaud Delta! May even not avoid them in the future.

Read a bit more closely-Delta has not yet come on board with Haiti donations.This link is for a MLK memorial-IMHO,much less pressing than humanitarian aid.

Yup yup...


Speaking of taxation of miles: I thought that one doesn't have to declare the value of miles received? The IRS doesn't count miles as income?

Or am I wrong here?