IRS Urges Citizens to Seek Qualified Charities for Katrina Help

From: Lowell J Mix [mailto:ljmix@juno.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 4:39 PM
To: ljmix@juno.com
Subject: Fw: IRS Urges Citizens to Seek Qualified Charities for Katrina Help

Federal Emergency Management Administration has urged citizens to make cash donations to volunteer agencies with whom it is working. The government's official Web portal, http://www.firstgov.gov/ , also contains disaster-relief information.

In addition, the IRS has prepared Publication 3833, Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance Through Charitable Organizations, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3833.pdf that may be helpful for people who want to make contributions or who want to form a new charity.

"We encourage citizens to make sure their contributions are put to the best use possible to help Hurricane Katrina victims," said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. "The IRS will do everything possible to assist both taxpayers and charities in this difficult time."

The IRS also issued these following reminders to citizens and charities:

IRS Disaster Relief main page http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=108362,00.html
Publication 78, http://apps.irs.gov/app/pub78 lists charities with tax-exempt status, and a searchable on-line version is available through IRS.gov
Publication 526, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf Charitable Contributions, provides information on making contributions to charities
Taxpayers may claim a deduction for contributions http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc506.html to charitable organizations only if they itemize deductions on Schedule A of their Form 1040. They should retain proof of the contribution and, if the amount is more than $250, must obtain an acknowledgement from the charity for the amount to be deductible.

Related: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,167683,00.html