Question for abezon - Charitable Contribution

What is the name of your state? PA

I just read the recent post on charitable contributions and I have a question.

Is it OK to give cash to the church you attend and claim the amount in Schedule A on your yearly return?

I've been anonymously giving cash to my church every week for over 30 years, but I've never claimed it as a deduction because I thought you had to have a receipt for every deduction you claim.

I know line 15 on Schedule A reads "cash or check" but I have always been afraid to claim it because it is a substantial amount of money, at least for me (over $2,000), and since it is cash I have no receipt to prove my contributions.

Abezon, please give me your thoughts on my situation.

Thank you.

If the amount donated was less than $250 on any given day, your cancelled check is sufficient receipt. Alternatively, 'other reliable written records are sufficient'. Written records can be a list of your donations, listing date & donee. A list of what you gave each service together with cancelled checks backing up some of those amounts is good enough. The list is more convincing if you generate it over the year -- use different pens, etc. You might include your bank records showing $200 cash withdrawn the day before church & more cash withdrawn after church. A correlation between weeks you withdrew cash & weeks for which you do not have a cancelled check might help subtantiate the list of cash donations.

For amounts over $250 in one day, you need a receipt from the church.

Go ahead & claim the donations. The worst that can happen is you're 1 of the <3% of returns that get audited & some of your donations are disallowed. Then you just pay the tax, which you'll have to do anyway if you *don't* claim the donations when you file.

Regarding this year: most churches have a program where members put their donation in a little envelope & write their donor name on it. At the end of the year, the church talleys up the donations, matches numbers to the donor list, & mails out receipts for the year.

Thanks

Thank you for taking the time to answer.