Do you take donations and church offerings off on your taxes?

I don't because I don't usually itemize my taxes. I would do it if I itemized, though. I don't see a problem with it. My wife doesn't think we should, but I don't see what the big deal is. So what if Uncle Sam has to give you back a little more on your tax return. The Bible says to "give unto Caesar what is Caesar's". The government takes enough money from me in the form of other taxes. Our ability to get some of it back by claiming our tithes and offering as a tax deduction is a gift from God if you ask me...

I don't at the moment, but I do plan to start. You are thinking of the negative side of it, but you have to also look at the positive side. The money you can get back from the government is just more than you can give again. It is kind of like the government saying here is some money to give to the organization you feel it should go to. You can always do your taxes without claiming this money and then do it again when you claim it. Take the extra money you get back and give it to a good organization.

I agree. I use to work at Good Will as a matter of fact over 10 years ago. A lot of people that wore nice clothes and drove up in nice cars always wanted a tax receipt. I didn't mind writing them one out. Although some asked for mor then I thought it was really worth for used clothes. I know I never have when I gave my old clothes there. The same goes for church that is money to help out God and his people that spread his word.

Actually for modest incomes it is such a small percentage that you get back, that it doesn't make a difference. Besides I think that most people don't give to get these few cents or dollars back on income tax, they are giving to the charity. Now millionaires that have tons of money to give away and need tax donations, that may be another story, but for the average American I don't think your theory is right. I give, but no I don't expect anything in return. If I happen to get a bit back from it at tax time, then that is fine. However, I've had to pay taxes for the last 5 years or so and will again this year. Yes, I donate a good bit too. So do you think my having to pay in more taxes should effect my giving? NOPE!

We don't donate to a church but we do donate to the homeless shelter here in my city all the time (my uncle is the director) and we do write it off of our taxes. We pay so much in taxes it's not funny, and we have to pay someone to do our taxes because they are so hard, this year we paid $900.00 to get them done. We don't donate to get the tax credit but we do use it because if we didn't we would have to pay probably an extra $2000. a year.

But don't you think that the people who donated the clothes to you may have written them off on their taxes? I've never itemized because I've never donated enough stuff to be able to get any money back from it. But I don't see anything wrong with doing it. You don't get all the money back anyway. I think the whole point of that system was created so people can partially pay back what they donated. A lot of people will actually take out credit cards to make a pretty significant donation to some foundation or what ever. I know at church it's different because you just drop what you can into the collection plate. And people don't do enough of that in order to get it back. So as I was saying people will use a credit card to make a significant donation to whatever foundation, this may set them back a bit but people will do this to help those less fortunate then them. So at the end of the year they can itemize this and then get some of it back to pay off that credit card. In order to ease up on them a bit. If you did this for your church, say your church wanted to move, or build into a nicer church, or even build a youth center (anything that will take quite a bit of money) and were asking for donations for this, you say, "Okay I want to help because it's for the best" So you take out a credit card for 10 grand and donate it so you can help your church in it's mission. So no one is going to think any less of you for helping others then helping your self so it doesn't completely set you back. And least of all I don't believe God is going to think any less of you for it. In fact God only helps those who helps themselves.

First of all, I never donate more than 500$ in a year so far just b/c I can't afford it, but I do claim it. I only claim things where I actually wrote out a check. I don't claim things like clothing or furniture because I think of these as items I would have thrown away. Then again, I've never given away a really nice expensive item so I don't know what I would do in that case. I personally don't think there is anything wrong with it. I donate because I like to support the organizations, not because I can claim it. I don't even know how much taxes I get back from these donations. It's probably not much! But in this economy every little bit helps. Any little thing my tax guy says I can claim, I do. I agree with some of the other people that I am more likely to donate more if I get more back in my taxes. Usually when times are tough, donations are the first thing to go for me. As for expecting something in return, I don't "expect" it, but when my tax guy asks "how much did you donate this year", I just answer the question. I figure if I can get a bit back for being good and doing good, then why not? If the government ever took away the ability to claim donations, I'd still donate. Perhaps if I had 1000s of dollars to throw around in donations, I wouldn't claim it because then i'd be rich and wouldn't need the money! But seeing as I'm not rich and just trying to stay afloat in this crazy economy, I'll take the few bucks I get back.

No i don't but it is not because i think it is wrong,i don't really know if it is wrong or not,but if you feel like it is then i would just go with my feelings..I can understand how you feel,and it does seem wrong in a way.. I do not file taxes anymore because i am on disability and we do not have to ...I always donate things to charity like cloths ,household items and such..If i have something that i hardly ever wear or don't ever wear it ,i donate it...I am not one to hold onto items that i do not use,other people can use it...

I dont get receipts when I donate items like clothing or household items. I also dont use any of the church donations for taxes either. I do use the receipts i get from Telemircale or Relay for Life/Canadian Cancer society for taxes IF i donate enough at once to warrante the organization sending me the tax receipt.

Yeah, sometimes when my budget would allow me. But most of the times I just give monies to the beggars in the street. They need it more I think.

giving should have nothing to do with an economical calculation. it should be giving, period.

I take money that I donate off of my taxes; however, I do not donate money to get a decrease in my taxes. That is money I would have donated anyway, its just kind of a way for me to make what little that I have go further. I will take anything off my taxes that I can. I think it would be immoral (and illogical too actually) to donate things just to get a decrease in taxes.

I for one do not report donations on my tax returns. I feel that it is something I am doing to give back to the community. Yet, it's each persons decision on whether to do so or not.

Well yeah, by right you are allowed to have charitable deductions so it's up to you whether you take it off from ur income taxes or not......I'm quite sure that God won't penalize you if you do. Hee hee hee.

I don't take a deduction neither on my taxes. I don't think it makes that much difference, plus you would only do that if you file your taxes long form and take the deductions. I don't need to file taxes and when I did I filed short form.

Well, the Church I attend, our Pastor highly recommends if you have enough in Taxes to get something back, use that amount towards taxes on what you can get back. He feels that even though you are giving to God which is the right thing to do, you can also be Blessed again when you pay Taxes as well. As for Clothes, etc. to places like Good Will, Salvation Army, etc. it used to be you could only claim up to $300 a yr. which when I had my Own Business was quite easy to do in a very short time. Now that you can itemize, I have been saving more of my reciepts this yr, but a lot of it will all depend on if it would benefit me or not if I try to use them.

I know we should not expect anything out of donations we have made, but is only fair that the favor be returned to us if we have to have it. When we make donations and claim it on our taxes, it really helps us out on how much we have to pay in to the government. It also helps a little bit if we get anything back also. which isn't much.

We take all the donations off our taxes, and still owe Uncle Sam when we're through figuring our taxes. Each year, we have about $1500 to $2000 owed - even though we have high interest to take off from our mortgage, huge medical bills to deduct, and charitable donations. My pastor once spoke about this when we were having an informal church discussion about worldly events. He told us that by taking the deductions for charity, we were doing what the law allows AND we were making sure we had more money in our own pockets...so we could give even more. Made sense to me.

The cash I donate I do take the deduction off my taxes. We pay so much it's like Caesar gets way more than he should already! As for donations other than cash, I never take a receipt or deduction. I volunteer a lot. Sometimes over 20 hours a week. I never count losses from work or anything like that either.

I am looking for actual scripture about this. Does anyone know what the Word of God says one way or another, if anything, about this?