Every man and woman in this world who are able enough to feed themselves on income earned by them should always give to those who dont share the same luck not out of obligation but because humanity cant survive on a empty stomach. IRS realizes this and it lets your client deduct up to 50% of their adjusted income for charitable contributions. Charitable contributions can be deducted as itemized deductions on Schedule A of form 1040 and on form 8283 for non-cash charitable contributions (gifts with a value over $500).
Charitable Contributions are deductible to the following:
Charitable Contributions that are not deductible:
The value of the charitable contribution is also important enough to be mentioned here. For example your client bought two tickets to a documentary that shows cruelty to animals. A Charitable Organization is showing it at a local movie theater. The film has a running time of two hours like any other movie your client would go see in this movie house. The movie house usually charges nine dollars per ticket. This documentarys tickets cost $50 each. The value of the contribution for deduction is $41. This is minus the fair market value of the movie ticket. For the IRS to consider your client's contribution a deductible one it must be devoid of any benefit to him/her.