On March 13th, the IRS released a revised version of Publication 1771
that approves electronic receipts as a method to acknowledge a
donation to a public charity.

Section 170(f)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code requires taxpayers to
obtain written acknowledgement from a public charity if they claim a
tax deduction based on a contribution of $250 or more. The
acknowledgement is a receipt prepared by the charity that must be
provided to the taxpayer prior to the date he or she files taxes for
that tax year. Until now, the IRS did not accept electronic forms of
acknowledgement, such as e-mailed receipts or internet web pages
summarizing a series of donations in a year. The responsibility to
obtain the acknowledgement remains with the taxpayer, but the newly
revised rule should streamline the process for charitable giving,
particularly on the internet.

For more information:
Publication 1771 (PDF file, requires Adobe Acrobat to read):
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/pub1771.pdf

This message is being distributed to the Alliance for Justice's
Nonprofit Action Network and its Advocacy Lawyers and Accountants
Network.

Posted on SHARE Yahoo group - Apr. 1, 2002