The pictures and videos of the devastation caused by Hurricane
Katrina are sadly stunning. As is true for our great nation,
millions are lining up to donate to help those that have been
impacted. While your actions are a shining example of the best
traits of people, a few unsavory groups are trying to make a
profit off of the tragedy. Scam Artists You can avoid these scam
artists by taking a few simple steps. Charitable organizations
rely on tax-deductible contributions as their primary funding
source. Before an organization can offer the benefit of a tax
deduction for donations, it must be classified as such by the
Internal Revenue Service. The process is arduous and effectively
acts as an informal investigation of the legitimacy of the
charitable organization in question. Fortunately, the IRS makes
this information available to the public. You can check the
legitimacy of a charitable organization by either contacting the
IRS or accessing the agency list of charitable organizations on
the Internet as follows: IRS Customer Service: 1-800-829-1040
http://apps.irs.gov/app/pub78 The above link goes to a page
where you can conduct a publication 78 search. Publication 78 is
a list of all charitable organizations that have qualified for
tax-exempt status with the IRS. Scam artist and unsavory
characters are not going to be listed with the IRS. If the
organization you are considering does not appear in Publication
78, you may wish to consider another organization. E-mail Scams
You should be cautious if you receive an e-mail requesting money
for the relief effort. The e-mail may not be from a legitimate
organization. Fraudulent e-mail campaigns are at an unbelievable
level. If you are determined to make a contribution because of
an e-mail you received, make sure that you check out the
organization with the IRS as indicated above. Unfortunately,
there is a second problem with responding to an e-mail
solicitation for monetary donations. Assume that you regularly
make donations to a large charity organization and you receive a
request for a donation from that organization to help with the
tragedy in New Orleans and beyond. You can safely click the link
in the email and make a donation, correct? Maybe not. There is
still a risk that the email is a scam. Many online businesses
have ongoing problems with scam artists copying their sites,
logos, headings, etc., and sending e-mail solicitations to scam
individuals. There is no reason to believe that charitable
organizations would be any less of a target, so be careful. If
you still are compelled to respond to an email solicitation with
a donation, you should use a search engine to search for the
organization listed in the email. Once you click on to the site,
you can make a donation in confidence. The devastation cause by
Katrina is there for all to see. By following the above
recommendations, you can make sure your donation gets to the
people in need.
About the author:
Richard Chapo is CEO of Business Tax
Recovery - Obtaining tax refunds for small
businesses by finding overlooked tax deductions and credits
through a free tax return review.
|
