By DJ Berry

Make sure your church contributions will be allowed by the IRS.

The IRS is repeatedly and often referring to a tax court case (Durden v. Comr. T.C. Memo 2012-140) in which charitable contributions were disallowed even though the taxpayer had a receipt from the church.  The receipt is required to state that the taxpayer received no goods or services from the charitable organization (In this case, the taxpayer did not receive any goods or services.).

You need to ask your charitable organization to add this to their receipts for charitable contributions if it is not already stated on the receipts.  Be certain to get a new receipt before a return is filed.  You will need this receipt before the return is filed.