Recently the president and vice president released their tax returns to the public. President and first lady Obama reported income of about $5.5 million, the majority of that from book sales, and donated about $329,000 to charity during the year. That’s about 5.9 percent of their income. I should mention those figures do not include the $1.4 million proceeds of the Nobel Peace prize which was also donated to charity. Continue Reading…

Each fall as I give students their final exam to take right before Christmas, I remind them of that old saying that it is better to give than receive. While I intend that remark as humorous, there’s also a lot of truth there. It is a great feeling to help others out, which leads me to today’s topic of charitable gifting. Here’s an area where you can give and receive some nice tax benefits. But with charitable contributions, you might miss a few things if you aren’t careful. So let’s make sure you fully capture what you do for charities on your tax return. Continue Reading…