Haiti Relief Contributions are Deductible Against 2009 Income!
On January 22, 2010, President Obama signed HR 4462 allowing charitable contributions for Haiti earthquake victim relief to be deductible on 2009 federal income tax returns.
All contributions made for Haiti victim relief from January 12, 2010 through the end of February 2010 are treated as if made on December 31, 2009 for tax purposes.
The bill did not restrict the type of recipient organizations; however, if contributing via check a best practice would be to add “Haiti Victim Relief” in the memo field of the check and retain a copy for your records. For text / cellular donations, the bill specifically provides that a phone bill identifying the name of the recipient organization, the date of the contribution and the amount of the gift as satisfies the recordkeeping and deduction substantiation requirements of the Internal Revenue Code.
The full text of the bill which became Public Law 111-126 can be found HERE
