Tax Day 2019 is only a few days away, and all over the country, people are scrambling to pull together documents, find receipts, and remember what charities they donated to this past year. But it doesn’t have to be this way. A Modern Giving account can take some of the stress out of preparing taxes with these five benefits.
Keep Track of Donations Receipts
Whether you do your taxes yourself or hand them off to a professional, you’ll need to keep track of receipts in case of an audit. But a shoebox full of disorganized papers isn’t exactly going to spark joy, taking up space on a shelf. With a Modern Giving account, you never have to worry about losing another donation receipt or trying to read faded ink. Receipts for your donations through Pinkaloo are stored all in one place, minus the clutter.
Upload Your Receipts
Speaking of clutter, you can easily store paper receipts you receive from other donations by uploading them to your Pinkaloo Modern Giving account. So, if your spring cleaning included decluttering and a trip to Goodwill, you can instantly snap a picture of your donation receipt and keep your newly minimalist home organized and paperless.
Get Receipts Immediately
In the months leading up to tax season, your inbox has probably been flooded with documents from your employer, banks, insurance provider, and any organizations you donated to last year. It can be easy to lose track of what you’ve received and what’s still pending. Not to mention where you saved all of them! Not only does a Modern Giving account solve for the problem of potentially lost receipts by keeping them all in one place, but you’ll receive your receipts as soon as you put money in your account. Before you’ve even distributed money to the charities of your choice, your receipt is generated so you never have to worry about it, which helps with the final benefit on our list.
Streamline Itemizing
If you’re planning to itemize your deductions, the first step is making sure that this is best option for you. NerdWallet has our go-to guide for understanding deductions, credits, and the difference between itemizing and the standard deduction. If you are itemizing your deductions, a Modern Giving account helps in two ways. You receive an end of year summary that includes all of your receipts, in one file, so that you both know exactly how much you can claim and have all of the supporting documents in one place.
Make Bundling Easier
In a previous post, we walked you through the basics of bundled giving and how it can help you maximize your return. But if you didn’t take advantage of bundling donations last year, now is a good time to look ahead to next year’s return. Because your receipts will be generated immediately and any deposit into your Modern Giving account this year will count towards your taxes next year, you can plan to double up your donations and budget your giving accordingly. Maybe you’re expecting a big return from this year’s taxes. You can deposit that into your Modern Giving account and get a jumpstart on maximizing that return for next year.
Pinkaloo Technologies LLC does not provide tax or legal advice. Each of us have unique circumstances and we suggest that you work with a qualified tax advisor for your specific situation.