This morning, I purchased breakfast at the Jack in the Box drive through. They asked if I wanted to donate $1 to Big Brothers, and (feeling generous) I agreed. When I picked up my order, they gave me a cute little antenna ball for making a donation. Later, looking at my receipt, I noticed that my "donation" was listed as the purchase of an antenna ball, and that I'd been charged tax.
I thought I was donating money, not buying a trinket, and I didn't expect to pay sales tax on a donation. So, does the charity get any money from this transaction or not?
Today he wrote back and said Jack in the Box responded to his complaint:
After I wrote to you and to Jack in the Box, they called me. Apparently, they consider this not to be a donation, but a purchase of an antenna ball, with 70% of the purchase price (not including tax) going to charity.
I checked and signs at the store do say that this is a purchase, but you can't see those signs from the drive through, so when I was asked if I wanted to donate, I had no way to know this wasn't a straight donation.
Maybe donating at the drive-through window isn't a good idea in general, since it's not the best place to see things like fine print.
(Photo: steevithak)
]]>@morganlh85: No, that's not overhead. Jack in the Box took 30%, and 70% went to Big Brothers. Of that 70%, there could be as much as 25% overhead. So, in the end, the $1 donation contributed probably no more than 50 cents.
]]>Clerk: "Would you like to donate a dollar to Breast Cancer?"
Me: "ABSOLUTELY NOT! I hate Breast Cancer!"
Followed by a puzzled expression on the clerk's face.
]]>Two comments:
1. We have a yearly fundraiser at the cash register's for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Surely a worthy cause, but we are pushed pushed pushed to ask and get a donation at every transaction. I'm also pressured as an employee to make a donation every time I buy something (like a soda, snack, etc). It's frustrating to me, and I'm sure every customer, because I make my own contributions to charities each year, too.
2. Similar to the OP, we were pushed one week to sell the yellow LiveStrong bracelets- they were our "item of the week" and needed to sell a lot, apparently. Many cashiers asked customers to make a $1 donation to the LiveStrong Foundation, and instead were sold a bracelet. With tax. This came from individual cashiers who took it upon themselves to sell some bracelets, not from corporate. So maybe Jack-in-the-Box cashiers were going rogue with their own script?
]]>Frankly since I get asked at every store I go into these days, and since I go into multiple stores a week, I would be very broke if I donated a dollar every time I was asked.
]]>I'm no tax lawyer, but I believe you can write off any donation to a tax exempt entity, and you don't even need a receipt for donations under $250.
That's assuming you itemize deductions in the first place.
]]>However if you really want to make best use your your money, donate the money directly to the charity.
If you want to donate item, only donate what you already have. Don't buy things for donation.
]]>There is definitely a way to make a donation and receive some sort of thank you "gift". Usually if the gift is significant they tell you how much of the "donation" can be deducted from taxes. However, I do not believe you pay any sales tax on the transaction.
]]>When you get asked at the grocery store if you would like to donate to whatevercharity...does the store collect the money and write it off in there books as a donation in the stores name? Can you write those kind of donations off on your taxes?
]]>It's an easy life rule to make.
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