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The problem with the Dec. 31st cutoff is that on that date you don't know how much money you've made or how much of it you've given away. By April 15th, you do.
If charitable deductions worked like IRA contributions then everyone could know what percentage of their income they've given away to charity.
In fact, the IRS could publish tables so that people could know if they were above or below the average/median for others with their income.
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Second paragraph, Line 1; you did mean IRS, didn't you? Otherwise you could be incriminating yourself. |
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In the US, IRA (or individual retirement accounts) are a tax-advantaged way of savings. One is allowed to make contributions to this type of account until April 15th (tax day) of the following year. |
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Waugsqueke, it's only fair; how often have there been UK oriented ones? 'Portable Bernard Bresslaw' comes to mind immediately,... |
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Not to mention "Bob Monkhouse on a Stick"... |
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I like the idea, by the time I sit down and figure out how much I've given to charity last year... it's too late for me to do anything about it.. I'm not even sure what percentage of my income I gave to charity even though its sitting there in my u.s. tax form... |
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Not being a USian, I may be missing something, but is it possible that the December 31st cut-off date is to allow the charitable organizations time to prepare *their* returns for the IRS before April 15th? |
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Charities would still report their income on the tax year they choose. (They could pick 12/31 or 4/15, no differnt from the status quo where firms can pick their reporting year.) |
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A contribution made on 4/13/2001 (or 13/4/2001 depending on where you live) would count for year 2000 taxes for the individual and year 2001 for the charity. |
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Waugsqueke: Nope, no idea. Never heard of Bernard, or Monkhouse, and don't know which Anne whatsername you're referring to... |
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Good idea, especially as growing national debt payments inevitably increase tax rates. At a 50% tax rate, for example, a lot of people would rather give 2X to a chosen charity to save 1X on taxes, some of which may go for purposes they disagree with. |
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