I'd be careful about strangers, due to the prohibition against cancelling subscriptions. I have found that my relatives are willing to receive gift subscriptions, although they don't yet know how many they are going to get.

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Middle_Seat

Pegasus8228, thanks for the info, very helpful, saves me having to split points between two programs.

Broadway Blue, you would be surprised at the range of magazines that Public Libraries want. I got a list for well over $2000 worth of subscriptions for the first library I contacted.

[This message has been edited by Mvic (edited 12-24-2001).]

Mvic,

u rwelcome.
one more plus for using AADV is it counts toward achieving MM miler status
1MM= lifetiem gold
2MM=lifetime Plt

Any accountants here?

Can we deduct any of this if we donate the magazines to libraries, etc?

No way, will any of the magazines show up on someone's door step within the 30 day "no cancel" period.

Found the discount codes I was posting in the thread so..... nevermind.

BSL



[This message has been edited by BSL (edited 12-24-2001).]

i was talking with my dad about this. he itemizes his tax return so basically he would get about a third of the cash he spent on the magazines back. talk about an even sweeter deal!

i managed to find another $1200 worth of magazines last night bringing my total miles earned with this deal to about 280,000! i only wish they had some more popular magazines like Sports Illustrated or Time. over all i can't really complain.

shouldn't the title of this thread be "fly the concorde for $944"?

thanks again for all the info!

Well, I'm an accountant, but I don't do tax so this is just my thought. I think I remember from basic tax class that you have to subtract the value of anything you received in return. For instance, if you bought tickets to a charity dinner for $300 but the dinner was worth $50, you would use only $250 in your calculation for your charitable deduction.

So, you would have to subtract the "value" of the miles. Seems like a lot of trouble. Maybe just the good feeling of getting miles cheap while donating is enough? Of course, the IRS probably won't know about the miles...it will be up to each person.

This has been probably mentioned earlier/elsewhere but:

Don't forget to update your email address at least once. (well 2x if you've already got your desired email on file) Click on "My Account" and then click on the button that offers 500 points for updating your email address. MAKE A CHANGE to your email address and anything else in your profile. Submit and you'll instantly have another 500 GoldPoints. Repeat and correct your email address if necessary. You've just earned another 125 miles if you've been doing everything else correctly in this thread!

First, thanks for a great deal!
Second, I purchased my magazines on Saturday, 12/22 and as of 5 PM on 12/24 no points. When do you think I should start getting nervous?

I'm not an account either and I don't play one on TV. But I believe you're not quite right. Let's say a charity held an auction and you bid on a magazine subscription. Let's also say you got the high bid and paid $100.00. If the magazine normally sold for only $25.00, you could deduct the $75.00 difference.

But I believe donating the entire subscription is different since you are not getting anything in return (ie. the magazines.) I think it would be treated the same as a cash donation and that you could deduct the entire amount.

Well, it's all up to interpretation. As long as you can justify your position. Unless this instance has already come up and the ruling documented.

It doesn't matter to me anyway since I don't itemize. So, my advice is...ask your accountant!

Obviously ask your accountant but my lay man take is that since the institution you are donating the subscriptions to is not the one giving you the miles you are not receiving anything of value from the donee and thus need deduct nothing from the value of the donation. Well, I can hope anyway right

for the record, I DO NOT travel internationally and am not "in the know", but I do know that US Air and Continental have reward travel agreements with Quantas... I just got a BizClass ticket for someone on Quantas using US Air, I know you can do the same on CO...

If you intend to send a bunch of magazine subscriptions to one address (a relative, friend, etc.), be sure that the person doesn't live in an apartment (with the attendant tiny mailboxes, which fill up fast).

Also, along with sending subscriptions to libraries, you might want to consider sending some to retirement/nursing homes...I'm sure the list includes magazines which would be of interest to seniors. Look particularly for nursing homes in urban areas (the ones I've seen have very little in the way of amusements). It's probably a good idea to check with the director of the home for permission and to find out how the subscription should be addressed.

Thanks for your generosity!
Happy holidays!

Regina
"ClassicalGal"