"B Powers, International Man of Mystery" <Bpmt44[at]yahoo.com> writes:

- quote -

Gifts to individuals are generally not tax-deductible as charitable
contributions in the US. If the donations are being collected by a
registered nonprofit like a community service organization or church
that retains control of how the contributions are used, OTOH, you most
likely can deduct. (I've run into this issue myself in the context of
making donations to help elite-level competitive figure skaters with
their training expenses; you either make a nondeductible direct
personal gift, or give the money to a nonprofit organization chartered
to help fund skaters generally.)

If you can figure out how to categorize your donations as a business
expense, you are free to try to deduct them from your business account
on that basis... but that might not stand up to IRS scrutiny. :-P

-Sandra the cynic

A co-workers house recently burned down so us co-workersare taking donations
for him until he gets situated. My question is can I use this donation as a
tax write-off. I have a small business on the side also which is Real
Estate investing, should I use my personal account or my business account
to write the check or does it matter...that is of course if it can be
written off?