This quiz will test a person's knowledge on recording various types of donations.

As stated in the IRS publication 1771, the church must send a written acknowledgement (donor statement) to the donor for any one time contribution over $250.00.

This question falls under a quid pro quo donation. These are found in the IRS code section 6115.

According to IRS publication 1771, the value is never placed on the donor's statement - ie the written acknowledgment. This is the instructions about the information that should be on the donor's statement.
1. the name of organization
2. the amount of cash contribution,
3. a description (but not the value) of non-cash contribution,
4. a statement that no goods or services were provided by the organization in return for the
contribution, if that was the case,
5. a description and good faith estimate of the value of goods or services, if any, that an
organization provided in return for the contribution,
6. a statement that goods or services, if any, that an organization provided in return for the contribution consisted entirely of intangible religious benefits, if that was the case.

There are three different statements that the church can used depending on the circumstances of the donations. When these statements are not made the IRS can disallow the donation. See the court case in 2012 that dealt with this issue -- David and Veronda Durden v. Comm’r, TC Memo 2012-140 May 17, 2012.

1. “No goods or services were provided by the church in return for the contribution.” Or
2. “Goods or services that the church provided in return for the contribution consisted entirely of intangible religious benefits.” Or
3. “The amount of the contribution that is deductible for federal income tax purposes is limited to the excess of
   money (and the fair market value of any property other than money) contributed by the donor over the value of goods or services provided by the church.”

The IRS Form 1098-C is what you use to for a qualified vehicle over 500.00.

A volunteer can't deduct their time and services. However an attorney can ask for a GIK donation statement for things like travel expenses for the attorney to come and meet with your organization. Or say for all the cost of mailings to your organization. In other words the expenses have to be documented and not just a 'service' or 'time'. There are a lot of rules on this that the churches should review before giving out any donation statements to any volunteers.

In person and private mail carriers must have the donation physically delivered to the charity (the church) by December 31st. This is different than the USPS which the IRS is fine with using the postmarked date.

The IRS's basic rule is that the gift must be delivered to the church by December 31st. For USPS they use the postmarked date as the delivery date, whether or not the donation envelope is physically delivered to the church.

According to IRS publication 526, page 21, donations that are equal to or over $5,000.00, a paid professional appraiser must be used and their written appraisal must be included with the donor's tax return.

According to IRS publication 1771 page 4, under the Recordkeeping Rules, subsection 'Requirement', the date and amount are both needed. While the IRS publication 1771 says the donor is responsible for this information, the church should have it on the donor statement so they can match it their records such as a bank record like a cancelled check or bank statement.