With the advent of one natural disaster, we now have another one coming. As human beings we want to help those in need. When we see the tragedies in North Carolina and hear what will probably happen in Florida, we want to help. Many times, we do this through the giving of money to organizations which are working in the areas. One method people use for this is GoFundMe. This is a crowdfunding method to raise money for purposes. People believe that by giving to GoFundMe it is a tax deductible donation like giving to the Red Cross, Salvation Army or church. The issue is it is not. To be a tax-deductible donation, the organization you are given to must be recognized by the IRS as a Section 501c (3) organization. The organization has met certain IRS standards and maintains them. Just because money is being raised to help someone does not mean it is deductible. The IRS maintains a list of the approved organizations on its website. You can find it here at Search for tax exempt organizations | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov). If the organization is listed here, the IRS will allow you to consider your donation to be a tax-deductible donation. If it is not, then it is not allowed. So, consider using organizations you know about such as Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc for giving. If not, realize at tax time, those donations given to GoFundMe, individuals, etc. are not going to be deductible. As always, you should check with your tax advisor before doing any major transactions that could affect your income or tax filings.

By: Steven Brewer, CPA We hear every day that another cyberattack has exposed thousands of pieces of personal data. Just recently, it has come to light that millions of us have had our personal data, including social security numbers, exposed by a cyberattack on National Public Data. Identity theft takes many different forms. One of the most troubling is when someone uses your personal data to file a tax return. They will file false information using your name and social security number to obtain credits and refunds that are sent to them. There is a way for you to prevent this from happening. The Internal Revenue Service instituted a program for Identity Protection PINs. These are a series of six-digit numbers assigned to you each year. Each year, you will receive a new PIN so you must give this to your preparer to be able to file your return. You must include this PIN when you e-file your tax return to identify that YOU are filing the return. If a return is filed without the PIN, then the return is rejected. When you set up the PIN program with the IRS, you also will set up an online account with the IRS. That account will allow you to see your records with the IRS, what has been filed, what the results are, etc. This is very helpful if you ever have a question about what the IRS has. It also will help your tax preparer. When you have an online account, the tax preparer can send you a Power of Attorney form to the account for you to e-sign. The Power of Attorney form is needed for the tax preparer to receive information from the IRS on you if there is ever a problem that you ask the preparer to help you with. To obtain information on the Identity Theft PIN, go wot https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/get-an-identity-protection-pin. Only you can obtain the PIN. No preparer or other third party can do this so if someone is telling you they can get one for “turn and run the other direction”. You do have the option to opt out of the program unless you are a confirmed victim of identity theft. If so, you cannot opt out. So, for your piece of mind and to stop the “bad guys” from getting into your taxes, get your PIN today.