Regardless of whether you itemize charitable donation deductions on Schedule A, claim an above the line allowable deduction for qualifying donations of $300 (Single) or $600 (married filing jointly) or deduct donations made through your IRA, ALL deductions for charitable donations are required to be supported by receipts or other substantiating documentation.

There is no IRS “allowable amount”, and any deductions taken on your tax return that cannot be substantiated with a receipt or other documentation will not only be disallowed on audit, the disallowed amount may be subject to a variety of penalties (including substantial accuracy penalties both taxpayer and tax preparer penalties for intentional understatement of income.

This is now a very hot item on the IRS agenda and with all the money given away or spent by Washington these past two years, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the IRS computer will now automatically mail charitable contribution documentation requests to everyone who claims a charitable contribution deduction.