During the season of giving.
One of the best ways to give back is by donating your dollar and
to learn more about ways that you can donate while also getting tax benefits.
Joining me now is that the walls are founder of walls. Are we
management?
I
welcome. Thank
you for having me.
Glad to be here. We're so happy to have you very timely. Top.
What are some of the best ways for our
viewers to donate their dollar this holiday season?
Well, I'm so interested.
You're talking about the self check out because all of these,
I just went to
square yesterday myself and got some retail therapy
and for the holidays and every single purchase
asks you to round up your purchase in the next nearest dollar to get to their,
the boys and girls club.
So you'll notice all retailers pretty much universally have a charitable
cause they selected and they're offering you to round up.
But one thing to note is that because that's on your
receipt and if you're not itemizing that on your schedule,
a then you're not gonna be able to do
that as
a deduction. Ok. So it's going to be a bit trickier. A little extra work. Exactly.
Is this something you'd recommend?
Well,
I think that charitable donations are one of the
best tax strategies that we have in tax law.
So, yes.
And of course,
just because it's really a good cause and we all need to help our fellow brother
and sister when they're down. And so yes, I'm 100% for charity.
But if you really are doing it for tax reasons and
you must itemize on schedule a and you must actually,
you know, have all of your receipts if you're having over $500 and you have
to actually have an itemization of all of your receipts.
Ok, good to know what are some tips for finding the best places to donate to?
The best thing is to pick a charity that I think is efficient.
There's a lot of charities that are very bloated and
like 20% or less goes to the actual charitable cause.
So there are resources out there that you can use like charitable
resource
dot org that will allow you to find a
charity that is literally spending at least 70% or more
towards the actual charitable cause.
And I think that's probably a good way to track your money, right.
You know, money is tight these days
due to inflation. That could be a more efficient use.
Yeah, I mean, I think if you really want your,
your dollar to have an impact that is a great tool to figure the charities
that are very efficient and that are really using the dollars for that purpose.
Ok, great.
So obviously it is a tight time, right?
On the wallet because of inflation, high borrowing costs and the holiday,
any budgeting tips for this time of year,
I think the most important thing to know is like,
I love Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
And we all get those impulse purchases that we
just feel good about because it's the giving season,
right?
But then
we, we get that mode and then we forget our budget.
So I think,
really understand your constraints and your
budgeting and look at your prices before
you're going to the stores and know it a deal or not.
Like, don't just get swept up in the event of cyber money,
the event of Black Friday really understand if
you're getting a deal and set your limits,
like it's great to feel charitable.
It's great to feel like it's the season of giving.
But if you're going to have big credit card bills that you can pay in January,
then maybe we need to.
So that in some, I think a plan always helps right
about
the plan,
holiday shopping, grocery
shopping,
you get there without a plan and
I at
least 10 to overspend in
areas, especially in a year like this one, I think so expensive.
And
so people might be wonder
that, you know, I don't have a lot of money to give, but I have
some money, a small amount. You still think it is worth
it to donate your dollar in that circumstance. I mean, this is the year that
we need donations. We have a lot of people that are in need. I mean, the expensive
cost of everything has hit everybody and it's got obviously hit
the people that are margin at the lower end harder.
So I think charity is very important,
but you
have to be cash, right?
My team and I,
every year we go and work at the homeless shelter locally in the soup kitchen
and that's just time and your time is valuable and your time is does cost something,
but it doesn't cost money.
So
if you can't do money this year, give your time.
There are so many charitable causes,
especially on the holidays and it will give you more than you give it.
I think time is money, right? So let
it's not coming out of your bank account,
but it is certainly still valuable. Absolutely, very valuable.
Ok, so you're the expert here, walk us through some of the tax benefit.
How people would take advantage of that if they do decide to donate their dollar.
Yeah, the best, the,
the actual best one that we like is the donation of appreciated stock.
So you get a double tax benefit when you buy a stock, you get a cost basis.
If I buy a stock for $100. My cost basis is $100.
If I were to go and sell that $100 stock and give
my $100 I'm only going to get $100 as a charitable donation.
But if I have that stock appreciate to $200 I get
a double tax benefit because I never recognized the $100 appreciation.
I never get taxed on that capital gain
and I get the full $200 deduction when I donate to the charity.
So donating appreciated stock is what a double tax benefit.
And it is a great thing to do. If your tax, if you need
a deduction on,
you have to itemize
on schedule a and anything above $500 you have to fill out form 8283.
It's the non cash charitable contribution form for the IRS.
But basically it allows you to get and you do have to take
the average share price on the day that the stock was sold.
And there's a stock tool that you can do to get that. It is very publicly known.
But all of these things really allow you to get that double tax benefit.
And that's one of the best tax tips we have around charitable giving. Ok, great.
Any final tips for our viewers, I think, you know,
just realize that this has been a really difficult three year period since 2020.
And I think we're all still trying to get our bearings.
This market definitely is and this is a great time
to really think of charitable causes in the traditional way.
But also the other ways that we've been talking about Rebecca Walser. Thank you so
much,
donating
our dollar, like, donate our time. Right.