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ta8rosen
New Member

I made a number of payments to my synagogue, for membership dues, building fund assessment, and various material purchases. How do I determine what is deductible?

Everything has been itemized on a statement from the synagogue.
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1 Reply
AnnetteB
Intuit Alumni

I made a number of payments to my synagogue, for membership dues, building fund assessment, and various material purchases. How do I determine what is deductible?

It is likely that everything you contributed to your synagogue is deductible.

According to the IRS Publication 526, “Generally, you can deduct contributions of money or property you make to, or for the use of, a qualified organization. A contribution is ‘for the use of’ a qualified organization when it is held in a legally enforceable trust for the qualified organization or in a similar legal arrangement.  The contributions must be made to a qualified organization and not set aside for use by a specific person.

Some examples of qualified organizations include “c hurches, a convention or association of churches, temples, synagogues, mosques, and other religious organizations.”

Charitable contributions are included on Schedule A Itemized Deductions.  In order for the donations to affect your refund/balance due you must use itemized deductions instead of the standard deduction.

To go directly to the charitable contributions section of your return, use these steps:

  • On the top row of the TurboTax online screen, click on Search (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax locate the search box in the upper right corner)

  • This opens a box where you can type in “charitable contributions” (be sure to enter exactly as shown here) and click the magnifying glass (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax, click Find)

  • The search results will give you an option to “Jump to charitable contributions

  • Click on the blue “Jump to charitable contributions” link and enter your information

 

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p526/ar02.html#en_US_2015_publink1000229641


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