I'm not a tax authority by any means but I thought that the value you had to
deduct was for any tangible object that you gave in immediate response to
the membership. For example, when you become a member of public television
and donate $50 and get a $5 mug as a "thank you" gift, your potentially
deductible amount is $45. They don't calculate whether or not you use your
membership to purchase public television items from a catalog at a later
date in the year.
Dr. Elizabeth A. Moore, Curator of Collections
Virginia Museum of Natural History
1001 Douglas Avenue
Martinsville, VA 24112
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: John E. Simmons <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2000 3:21 PM
Subject: Tax Deductible Questions
>I am posting this for a colleague who is not on Museum-L. I will relay any
>responses to him. Thanks.
>--John
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
>When a person makes a gift to one of our membership programs, we send a
thank-you letter that documents the amount and date of the contribution. It
also includes a (purposely vague) line about how the contribution is
tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. A member can deduct
>the amount of the contribution minus the market value of any benefits he or
she receives in exchange for the contribution. We've now been asked -- for
the first time, surprisingly -- to provide documentation outlining the
actual deductible amount of a member's contribution.
>
>Our problem has been that we can't anticipate the value of the benefits
someone might receive. The principal benefits (at least from this point of
view) are discounts on workshops and in the museum shop. When a member makes
a gift, I can't know what will be the value of such
>benefits until the year ends, at which point we can, if we've tracked it,
subtract the dollar value of the discounts received.
>
>There are two problems with this, aside from the one of tracking the member
's use of our services, which would be a bother. The first is that some,
perhaps most, members expect the documentation of the deductible value of
their gift when we acknowledge the gift -- not at the end of
>the year. The second, more difficult problem, is that the membership year
does not coincide with the tax year (the calendar year). So if I were to
send statements outlining the value of benefits, how would I treat someone
who, say, had a membership that renewed in December? I'd get,
>say, $100 on Dec. 15. On Jan. 1, I'd send a statement showing, probably,
that no discounts had been received -- because there would have been no
workshops offered in which the person could have enrolled and the person is
likely not to have made any purchases in the shop. Then,
>during the next calendar year, the person or a member of his household
might enroll in two or three workshops and make some number of purchases in
the shop. The next December, I'd get another $100 as a renewal. I can
scarcely deduct the value of the benefits received during most of
>the year from a gift that I didn't receive until the end of the year. The
benefits this person has enjoyed were the result of the previous year's
gift, not the gift made during the tax year for which I'm reporting. And the
gift received during the tax year for which I'm reporting
>didn't arrive until after the benefits had been received, so they could
scarcely be thought of as arising from that gift.
>
>Some of this is a matter for out tax attorney, with whom we will consult.
But before we do, I'd like to be sure I know the range of questions I need
answered, and I'd like to know how other museums handle these problems.
>
>*Do other museums track the benefits members are using and assign them
dollar values? *Do they provide year-end statements to members? If they do,
how do they ensure accuracy? (For example, if Jimmy Roberts enrolls in a
workshop for 8-year-olds, how do I know to assign that benefit
>to a membership listed as "the Roberts household," or to "Donald and
Sherree Roberts"? What if Jimmy's name is Johnson but he's nevertheless a
member of the Roberts household?) Must we ask members to provide the names
of all members of their household, and must we remind them to use
>the same names when enrolling in workshops or shopping at the museum?
>*Do other museums assign membership numbers, as country clubs do, or do
they have some other technique for ensuring that a member benefit awarded
can be assigned to the correct membership?
>*And how do other museums handle benefits during one year that arise from a
gift made during a previous year?
>
>=========================================================
>Important Subscriber Information:
>
>The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message
to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help"
(without the quotes).
>
>If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff
Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
