night86mare / Flickr
Debit card fees - Banks will start charging customers a fee for paying with their debit cards. (The New York Times)
Student discounts – Head to these nine places to score student discounts. (Wisebread)
Price tag of a pet – Find out the true cost of owning a pet before you commit. (Kiplinger)
Paying it forward – Learn how to deal with a suggested donation you can’t or don’t want to pay. (Fabulous and Frugal)
New streaming service rivals Netflix – Blockbuster’s new streaming movie service is $10 per month and includes one disc through the mail, giving Netflix new competition. The service is available Oct. 1 for current Dish customers and will be made available no non-Dish customers in the future. (Home Media Magazine)
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of Bobbisbargains.
donation receipts
It’s tax preparation time; the time of year when you get rewarded for all of your efforts of having a yard sale and then donating the leftover items to charity. You diligently got your donation receipt and filed it away with a detailed list of what you donated. Good job!
Now you have one very important last step. You need to determine how much you can deduct on your taxes for everything you donated. IRS Publication 526 “Charitable Contributions” explains how to claim a deduction for charitable contributions. And IRS Publication 561 “Determining the value of donated property” says you may deduct the Fair Market Value of the item.
Fair Market Value (FMV) is defined as “the price that property would sell for on the open market.” So, how do you determine the price someone would pay for the sweater your Aunt Martha gave you for Christmas five years ago? Fortunately, there are several sites that will help you on this pricing journey. (more…)
