Date of Donation Statement

[Cathy]

After some arm twisting, client was able to obtain a donation statement from his church with the "No goods or services, other than intangible religious....." with a listing of the donations and a signature.

However, the only date of the statement was at the bottom: "Printed on: xx/xx/xxxx" (actual date, of course rather than x's).

The "date printed" will be prior to the date the tax return is filed. Guess I'm slightly paranoid with the ridiculous court case, so what say you about the "date of the statement"? Will the "Printed On" date suffice this stipulation?

Thanks!

Side note: Years ago, a gentlemen was driving through this sleepy community and was impressed when he saw this same small country church struggling to maintain parking spots for the Sunday services. A $500,000 donation was sent with a note about his visit that day....and if I'm not mistaken, another 500k followed years later. Needless to say, surrounding land was purchased and many, many improvements were made with the gracious donation. Thank goodness that (possibly those) donation(s) were made years prior to the 2012 court case. I'm sure this is not the first time a donation of such nature was given, nor will it be the last time. I'm just glad the word is now spreading to the organizations in regard to the Tax Codes and Regs regarding the statement needed for a deduction for the taxpayer.

[JohnH]

I'd say the "Printed On" date is as good as, or better than, a date at the top of the statement.

I've already seen two statements this year that didn't conform. With one of them it didn't matter, because he has canceled checks for all his gifts and none are over $250 (even though the grand total is in the thousands). I told him the non-conforming statement is better than nothing, but not by much. He definitely needs to keep his canceled checks in case of an audit.

The other one had a couple of gifts over $250 out of a total of about 20, so I gave him a copy of the court case. I suggested that he would want the conforming statement unless he is OK with leaving the over-$250 gifts at risk. He's going to speak with the (volunteer) financial secretary this Sunday. We will see what comes of that. Meanwhile, his return is on hold.

[Cathy]

Thanks, John. My thoughts also...good to have them confirmed though!

[Margaret CPA in OH]

I may be missing something here (not unlikely!) but the date printed should not matter so long as it was in the donor's hands prior to filing the return and included the required information, i.e., date, type and amount of donation(s) and disclaimer, donor info and recipient info.

Many organizations do not send out acknowledgements for a given year until January of the following year. My church is one and so far in February and March I have received acks from recipient organizations myself.

[JohnH]

I think that's the point. Having a date on the statement would help confirm that the statement was indeed on hand prior to filing the tax return. That would be helpful information two or three years from now in an audit, when memories are fuzzy.

[MAMalody]

The problem with the printer date is it is established by the info input in the computer or printer not the organization issueing the letter. To be honest, given the time available I would try to get a new statement property completed. I have not seen where the IRS has rejected a printer date, however, you are looking for a contemporaneous statement and the printer date does not confirm than.

[Jack from Ohio]

Printed dates can be manufactured... No value.

[JohnH]

Can't issued dates be manufactured as well?

[Jack from Ohio]

The court case was about a taxpayer being audited well after the filing of his return. He then proceeded to get a "corrected" statement from the organization. The court ruled that it was not a "contemporaneous written acknowledgment" and disallowed.

Therefore, if client has the statement before the return is filed, it is "contemporaneous" and not an issue. Such was NOT the case in the tax court case.

[WITAXLADY]

could ask them to reprint without today's date on but the date of the contribution - what I did when I needed it for the record...

[MAMalody]

Can't issued dates be manufactured as well?

They sure can. This thing here is the statement comes from the church not a printer. I don't know of very many churches that will fudge a date. Most of he ones I am aware of are pretty straight and just want to do things right and let the chips fall where they may.