Cash donations are any donations of money that you make directly to a charitable organization. Understanding what makes up a cash donation is very simple because it must involve some form of money. When you make a cash donation, you use one of the following methods:
Cash
A check
A credit card
Payroll deduction
Automatic withdrawals from your bank account
Cash donations differ from noncash donations in that cash donations are actually gifts of money that you give directly to a charity. Noncash donations are gifts of some type of goods or some other physical thing that you can actually hold in your hands. Some examples of noncash donations are:
Clothing
Household items such as furniture
Electronics
A car
Stocks & bonds
It is sometimes hard to tell the difference between cash donations and expenses and mileage deductions because you may actually use cash when incurring some expenses. One thing to keep in mind is that expenses you record on the Expenses & Mileage tab are costs that you incur while taking part in a charitable activity.
For example, if you purchase a meal for a child who you mentor as part of your work for a charitable organization, the price of that meal is an expense that you can deduct on the Expenses & Mileage tab.
For more information about this type of deduction, refer to "Out-of-Pocket Expenses in Giving Services" in IRS Publication 526.