But like so much else these days, these giving opportunities have become controversial, in part because some critics insist retailers are taking a tax benefit for their customers’ donations.
The store serves only as a collection agent for your gift. Assuming the business is following the law, it will not include your donation as part of its business receipts, or income, nor will it claim the charitable gift as an expense.
As a customer, the donation will appear on your receipt and you can claim it as a charitable deduction when you file your income tax return.
tl;dr:You are still the one making the donation and eligible for the charitable deduction, not the business through which you donated. Businesses like it because they can say things like “Walmart facilitated donations of $n to agreeable charity in 2023.” It’s a company exploiting your generosity for good press, not for a tax scam.
This is one of the most infuriating misconceptions, and it can be corrected with some simple research. Yet people continue to parrot this basic falsehood because “corpo bad”.
Depending on what store is asking for donations, the charity might be run by friends and family of the executives or board of directors of that store.
The charity will then spend an awful lot on compensation to the people running it. The absolute worst offender in the space was Susan G Koman. (since fixed)
The point being, there are some charities that are better than others, it’s often best to donate to them directly instead of going through a third party.
This is one of those things that people repeat without checking because it agrees with their worldview. I have to admit that the first time I heard it I didn’t check it myself, although I didn’t repeat it to anyone else before I saw it debunked elsewhere and confirmed they were correct. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves to be better.
There was a case in which a company used the donation to fulfil its legal obligation - used the money from customers to give money the company was required to do due to a settlement. So it is a scam.
That’s not how taxes work.
tl;dr: You are still the one making the donation and eligible for the charitable deduction, not the business through which you donated. Businesses like it because they can say things like “Walmart facilitated donations of $n to agreeable charity in 2023.” It’s a company exploiting your generosity for good press, not for a tax scam.
This is one of the most infuriating misconceptions, and it can be corrected with some simple research. Yet people continue to parrot this basic falsehood because “corpo bad”.
Depending on what store is asking for donations, the charity might be run by friends and family of the executives or board of directors of that store.
The charity will then spend an awful lot on compensation to the people running it. The absolute worst offender in the space was Susan G Koman. (since fixed)
The point being, there are some charities that are better than others, it’s often best to donate to them directly instead of going through a third party.
This is one of those things that people repeat without checking because it agrees with their worldview. I have to admit that the first time I heard it I didn’t check it myself, although I didn’t repeat it to anyone else before I saw it debunked elsewhere and confirmed they were correct. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves to be better.
There was a case in which a company used the donation to fulfil its legal obligation - used the money from customers to give money the company was required to do due to a settlement. So it is a scam.