October 16, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Several key tax breaks designed to help donors and volunteers have been signed into law by President Bush as part of the bill Congress passed this month to provide a $700-billion rescue package for the nation’s financial system.
The legislation allows people older than age 70 1/2 to channel up to $100,000 to charities from their individual retirement accounts without facing any penalties.
That provision had expired at the end of 2007.
Food and Books
Additional provisions in the new law renew and extend other breaks related to charitable giving, including special deductions that businesses may take for gifts of food and donations of books and computers to schools.
The legislation also creates tax incentives for charitable giving to help victims of summer storms, tornadoes, and floods in the Midwest.
People who use their cars and other vehicles to provide disaster relief in the Midwest will be able to deduct 41 cents per mile — 70 percent of the current business mileage rate — through the end of 2008. The rates had been 14 cents per mile for charitable activities and 58.5 cents for business activities.
Volunteers in the Midwest can also exclude from their income any reimbursements from charities for the use of their vehicles, up to the amount of the standard business rate, through the end of 2008.
