Last Thursday, the US Tax Court ruled on Roberts v. Commissioner and denied a taxpayer’s attempt to claim a charitable deduction for $200 cash given to panhandlers and $28,655 of household items donated to Goodwill. You can check out a section of the opinion below, courtesy of the Tax Prof, or click here for the full PDF.
For 2005 petitioner claimed, on Schedule A, Itemized Deductions, a $200 cash charitable contribution, which he described as donations to panhandlers and the Salvation Army, and $28,655 of noncash charitable contributions. Included with his 2005 Federal income tax return was a self-prepared substitute Form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions, in which petitioner claims to have contributed more than 450 items of property consisting primarily of used clothing, but also including, among other things, towels, bedsheets, books, costume jewelry, children's toys, and glass lamps. Petitioner's descriptions of the items of property allegedly contributed to charity are vague and include self-assigned estimates of their values. Petitioner also provided copies of five receipts from Goodwill Industries (Goodwill) dated January 9, April 13, May 18, September 16, and October 1, 2005. Only one of the receipts bears a signature indicating that the donated items were received by Goodwill, and the receipts provide nothing more than vague references to the items allegedly donated; e.g., "men's boots", "ladies' clothes", "men's clothes", "boy's clothes", "women's clothing", and "4 bags of clothes". ...
With respect to the claimed $200 of cash contributions to charity, petitioner has failed to offer anything more than his self-serving testimony that he made various donations to panhandlers and the Salvation Army. ... Petitioner did not offer any canceled checks, receipts, or other reliable evidence to substantiate the claimed $200 of cash contributions to charity. Accordingly, we sustain respondent's determination to deny to petitioner a deduction for the claimed $200 of cash contributions to charity.
