See below! - Pam _____________________________________________ From: Lee, Pamela A Sent: Monday, December 20, 2010 4:54 PM To: discuss@mickaboo.org Subject: Income tax deduction available to foster parents I finally spent some quality time on the phone with the IRS to figure out whether toys, food, and cage supplies could qualify as foster parents' deductible charitable contributions when they itemize. The answer is YES, but there's some paperwork involved, since Mickaboo will need to provide a tax receipt to support the deduction. The foster parent would need to provide: * copies of their receipts (with a total dollar amount for all receipts). The receipts must show the place, date, amount, and nature of the expenses. * a statement saying the purchased items were for foster birds x, y and z (replace x, y and z with real names). The certification will be particularly important for households with both foster and "owned" birds. The foster parent should keep one copy of the package for their tax records, and send another to Mickaboo's PO Box 697, San Jose, CA 95106. When Mickaboo gets the package, we will double-check the birds are/were fosters. Assuming all is OK, Mickaboo (Heather) will send our standard tax receipt to the foster parent. Fosters are allowed these deductions due to a combination of rules about "out of pocket expenses in giving services" and "contributions of property". And don't forget - you can deduct $0.14/mile driven to perform services for charitable organizations (like Mickaboo), as long as you kept appropriate documentation. Let me know what questions you may have. Cheers! - Pam ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This message w/attachments (message) is intended solely for the use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or proprietary. If you are not an intended recipient, please notify the sender, and then please delete and destroy all copies and attachments, and be advised that any review or dissemination of, or the taking of any action in reliance on, the information contained in or attached to this message is prohibited. Unless specifically indicated, this message is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of any investment products or other financial product or service, an official confirmation of any transaction, or an official statement of Sender. Subject to applicable law, Sender may intercept, monitor, review and retain e-communications (EC) traveling through its networks/systems and may produce any such EC to regulators, law enforcement, in litigation and as required by law. The laws of the country of each sender/recipient may impact the handling of EC, and EC may be archived, supervised and produced in countries other than the country in which you are located. This message cannot be guaranteed to be secure or free of errors or viruses. References to "Sender" are references to any subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation. Securities and Insurance Products: * Are Not FDIC Insured * Are Not Bank Guaranteed * May Lose Value * Are Not a Bank Deposit * Are Not a Condition to Any Banking Service or Activity * Are Not Insured by Any Federal Government Agency. Attachments that are part of this EC may have additional important disclosures and disclaimers, which you should read. This message is subject to terms available at the following link: http://www.bankofamerica.com/emaildisclaimer. By messaging with Sender you consent to the foregoing.