And those hundreds are because they jacked up the prices while giving to the middle finger. You in the other hand are worried about becoming the panhandler in the street corner.
Here's the reality of the way it works.
Oftentimes corporations ask customers to donations for causes they want to support and then offer to match the donations. Money you donate legally goes to the donated company directly and the corporation does not benefit from this donation via tax write off, they do benefit from the matching donation that they donate but it's the same as if you donate something, it's a marginal write off, if you have a donation of $1k you don't pay taxes if you are itemizing on that $1k but it's not like you get a full $1k off your taxes, same for the corp. That comes off revenue not taxes directly.
But what they doo benefit from is community good will from running the donation, publicity for money raised and sometimes even occasionally they strike back end deals with these charities where maybe the charity might wind up procuring supplies from the donation source like Safeway or Kroger.
Donating in this way also ensures that charity dollar go to organizations with values that the store supports and can even create a chain of donations to specific lobbying ventures in ways you don't expect.
The real main issue though personally is if you round up and donate to charity at the register 50-100 times it makes it a lot harder to track your donations at the end of the year if you ARE itemizing. So I always recommend picking a charity you trust and have vetted and donating personally and in lump sums to make it easy to track and know that your dollars are going to a good cause and you get the maximum benefits.
Not sure where to donate?
Good places to start are charity ratings websites like charity navigator or charity watch.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading!
That's some good data, so wondering if you can answer this. The corp has to send the funds to the charity, but in what time frame? And if that timeframe isn't immediate, do they get to keep the interest made off the money as it waits?
That's an interesting wrinkle, I'm not sure, but as these drives are often limited, and in the States at last you should see the donation on a receipt... I doubt they hold onto your money for very long, I'm not inclined to want to speculate further than that nor believe it to be a significant issue.
Impressive. This is one of the dumbest reddit posts I've seen for a while.
And if you truly feel this way, nothing anyone tells you, no matter how factual it is, will change your mind.
Well in the US, they absolutely do. Most often about leaving a tip. For a company that doesn’t even do service stuff like a restaurant. Being asked for a tip by the self checkout is just the worst.
And why would anyone break the law? You could be punished if you get caught!
That doesn’t mean people won’t still do it. Nobody is gonna do anything about it either. Because it’s expensive to fight it.
And the fines are ridiculous and in the form of chains. They apply to every store which cannot prove the money went to the employees.
This is actually one of the few times where you are guilty until proven innocent. Because legal practice makes the proof trivial.
If you know of a company that is doing this contact your state dept of labor.
If you identify corruption in your states dept of labor election years are a great time to be loud about that sort of thing.
Ofc It will be addressed at the speed of government for sure. But that means more of a case history for them to absolutely SINK the offending business for a clear history of infractions.
When you talk I hear the Xfiles theme play.
Labor is heavily regulated in the United states. Which is why its scary that theres a push for the deregulation.
As of now. This is a crackpot conspiracy signaling right now.
But if people feed into the deregulate labor it will be great for industry party line sure you might have merit.
So are you a time traveler or just a pseudo intellectual?
Don’t know what experiences have led you to this wrong of a perception of the world but it is not good business practice to continually steal from your employees. Sure this might happen with a store here or there but I can promise you in no way are there thefts on a massive scale like you’re insinuating.
No, they can’t:
“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.
**In other words, your gift has zero impact on the store’s income taxes.**”
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/who-gets-tax-benefit-those-checkout-donations-0
That’s not how tax breaks work. Literally all the tax breaks do is make it so the company doesn’t have to pay taxes on the money that they collected for donation.
This is 100% false. And even if it wasn’t “we took in $1000 and donated $1000 for we don’t have to pay taxes on $1000” doesn’t actually get them ahead.
why should regular folks donate **THEIR** money to have a **COMPANY/ORGANIZATION** take a tax break ?
we should just donate directly and also get the tax break.
If a customer donates at the register, the donation is the customer’s to deduct from their taxes, not the company’s.
It’s not income/revenue for the company that you pay it to at the register to pass onto whatever charity/organization. It’s not deducted/a tax break because there is nothing to deduct it from.
I’m pretty sure if you keep the receipt you can get a tax break on it. Also, I doubt most people would donate directly (mainly because they could, but don’t).
You clearly didn’t read. The company doesn’t get a tax break.
And even if they did get a tax break then they would pay the same taxes if they collect the money and donate it as if they didn’t collect the money. It’s not “donate $1000 dollars and pay $1000 less in taxes”, it’s “donate $1000 and don’t pay taxes on $1000”. You might pay $300 less in taxes, but you’re also out $700 dollars in donates, so it’s a net loss.
And that money is yours to claim on taxes, but since it’s usually rounding up, who is going to claim a deduction $0.56.
No but they make the donations with the donated money, claim a tax break on it because it’s a charitable donation, and profits stay the same. It’s a racket
Yeah that’s absolutely not true. I’m not sure where this idea comes from.
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/who-gets-tax-benefit-those-checkout-donations-0
Well I have to thank him for something at least he said it first so I won't make a fool of myself that's why you should always learn before you respond.
Corporations aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their hearts! Our wages are stagnant, corporate profits are sky high, and they have the audacity to ask US to give them more money? Why don’t they make the donations themselves instead of paying their CEOs 8 or 9 figures? Asking me to round up is insulting. Maybe I’d be more likely to if I didn’t just pay $8 for a jar of peanut butter.
1. We aren’t giving *them* money. We’re giving the charity money.
2. They do make donations themselves. You know both parties can donate right? It’s not one or the other.
3. If you find that insulting then don’t go out or grow some thicker skin.
4. You should be able to find much cheaper peanut butter.
i think so too.
lets say a company collects $2000.
that charity rep comes up to collect.
they only provide $1000 ($1000 split with staff).
or they report that nothing was collected at all.
company/staff takes it all in, and charity wouldnt know.
i think this pertains to those loose change jars.
obviously the "round up your change" at the card terminal would track down those donations.
Can we please stop spreading this tax deduction bullshit?
“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.
**In other words, your gift has zero impact on the store’s income taxes**.”
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/who-gets-tax-benefit-those-checkout-donations-0
What benefits do they reap? The tax deduction doesn’t reduce their taxable income below what it would be if they hadn’t collected the money for charity. If two corporations make $1000 but one collects an additional $100 in donations that is then given to charity (making their total $1100), they can deduct that $100 bringing their total taxable income back to $1000. There isn’t really any direct benefit to the corporation other than marketing.
I'm not clicking on the link, but are all the offices on the street corner? Are the departments that mock up the pamphlets and the mailroom docking bays on the corner? Are the recipients of those donation requests receiving them on the corner?
Panhandlers ask for money for themselves without any real oversight. Depending on the place and person some make more than you would expect.
Donations go to a vetted cause that you can choose to support, assuming the corporation is not corrupted as hell and the founders aren't buying multi-million dollar mansions with the donations.
One is self-serving and the other is supposed to be in service of others. So yeah, different.
Those type of donations that corporations pledge to pay x amount total or x amount of profits are kind of worthless to support as a customer. Generally speaking if a corporation says they are accepting donations from customers to meet a certain amount for charity, the company is already going to pay that amount regardless, if you decide to give some yourself you are just helping the corporation spend less of their own money. So yeah, it goes to a good cause so you can feel good about yourself but it would be better to donate to a cause directly yourself.
As soon as you add a human being to the mix there is a risk of corruption, probably a certainty, and the more people you add the higher the risk. I guess a good question would be what percentage loss of your donation would you tolerate before you stopped donating?
Most charitable organizations have books to balance and if they were found to be completely ineffectual to their cause they would run the risk of having to shut down or even receive criminal charges depending on why.
For me, it's not about the percentage. It's about what they're trying to achieve at all, and if they're going about it in an effective way. For instance, I'd rather donate to MSF, which has teams on the ground in many parts of the world providing medical care, than to a charity which is set up to, say, build a park bench. Even if I knew that 100% of the money was going towards that bench, and even knowing that only a small fraction of money going to MSF goes to actually delivering care, I'd still most likely feel that MSF is a better use of my charity. I'd feel fine donating to a research institution. I'd never donate to a megachurch.
I know of none that have the kind of corruption that takes money from their donations. There may be price gouging, but there's receipts on all the donations.
BLM comes to mind.
Edit: These are my favorite downvotes, the ones spawned from lemmings that can't cope with the fact that they supported an organization whose founders stole millions in donations and did nothing for the cause they said they stood for. Just a political tool to drum up division among Americans so politicians had something to run on.
That's a corporation formed to get donations, as in a non-profit corporation. We're talking about for profit corps like Walmart that take donations on behalf of charities at the till. It always goes to the charities.
Youre implying that corporations and corruption can be mutually exclusive. I feel like every corp has some level of corruption just to keep competing with more corrupted ones
Sometimes even if the founders are buying multi-million dollar mansions and the corporation is corrupted as hell, it's still on the balance not bad. The head of Memorial Sloan Kettering makes over $1m per year, so if he wanted to buy a multi-million dollar mansion and he hasn't already, he could totally make that happen. And as someone who's worked most of his career at nonprofits, I can tell you that there is shady stuff at all levels of that organization. Would I still donate to it? Sure!
You're absolutely right. I would assume the 1m they make is their pay rather than some form of corruption. I touch on it somewhere else, but there is probably a percentage of loss to corruption you would tolerate if you were donating. A line somewhere for everyone.
I forget which popular group it was, maybe Girl Scouts, but only $0.25 per box of cookies goes to helping the scouts. Again, don't quote me on the group, but the circumstance is real. While that's not necessarily corruption, it kind of fits the bill for being okay with only a small portion of your donation going to the cause and ultimately it's better than nothing. Especially given how many boxes/quarters they move.
Companies are already donating to charities for tax write offs regardless.
When companies ask the customer for a donation you’re giving the company money directly. Goes right back into their pocket
I don't get it. How is asking me for donations that go to, say, a children's hospital in any way similar to panhandling?
Or are you talking about things like public radio or public television, which provide a service and hope for donations to stay in business? I guess that might be commercial-grade street performers, who play music and hope you put money in their guitar case. That's not really the same thing as panhandling, though.
> I don't get it. How is asking me for donations that go to, say, a children's hospital in any way similar to panhandling?
Easy. People don't like being asked to donate at the register just as much as they don't like being reminded that homeless/poor people exist.
CLAIM: When a customer elects to donate to charity at a store’s checkout counter, the store can write off that donation on its own end-of-year taxes.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Stores can’t write off a customer’s point-of-sale donations, because they don’t count as company income, according to tax policy experts. Customers can write off their own donations if they choose. Stores are allowed to write off their own donations, such as when a store donates a certain portion of all its proceeds to charity.
https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-000329849244
Big corps have third party compliance companies come in on a yearly basis to comb through the books, interview employees, and report their findings. They aren't going to risk fines, potentially tanking their stock, and generating ill will from the public just to skim a couple million from charity donations.
The fines tend to be pennies in the grand scheme and no that won’t tank their stock. These companies aren’t doing it out of the goodness of their heart
>The fines tend to be pennies in the grand scheme and no that won’t tank their stock.
I own stocks, if I heard a company's accounting department was incompetent enough to mix this stuff up, I'd be worried about the competency of the other reports they make for investors.
>These companies aren’t doing it out of the goodness of their heart
Goodwill. Public relations.
You only need a receipt for [donations of $250 or more](https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc506#:~:text=For%20any%20contribution%20of%20%24250,property%20other%20than%20cash%20contributed).
Feel free to send your panhandling donation to Jagid3, PO Box Zero, Nowhere NW 00000.
Yes. One must spend money in order to use it to decrease the amount of money one pays taxes on.
I am not sure that everyone understands how taxes work.
If I have $1,000 of taxable income and a 33 percent tax rate, I get to keep $670.
If I have $1,000 of taxable income and I donate $250 to charity, I now have $750 of taxable income. Perhaps I am now at a lower tax bracket, let's say a 29 percent one. I keep $532.50.
So originally I would have kept $670 and now I keep $532.50 and the charity gets $250 for a net benefit of $782.50, an improvement of $32.50 overall.
This is a gross oversimplification, but I think it makes the point.
If you donate $250, you do not get $250 off your taxes. You get $250 off your **taxable income**. Your tax rate determines your savings, which will not be $250 unless your tax rate is 100 percent.
Yes, deduction off taxable income.
I think this is where some people mix up tax deductions and tax credits.
For a great many people that only have one revenue stream with an average job, with an average income, these donations and subsequent deductions don't apply because these people typically elect for a "standard deduction." Itemizing deductions can be a headache.
What a terrible waste.
We keep track of everything we donate. We keep track of the garage-sale value of anything we give away. We keep track of every mile we drive for business, for volunteer work, and for medical.
"Medical?" you ask? Yes! If you spend a certain amount of your overall income on medical expenses there is a rate you can deduct from your taxes for every mile you drive.
My wife and I are scrupulous tax payers. We are very honest and pay every penny the tax laws force out of our iron-fisted death grips.
If we are audited we are bulletproof, but we don't send a penny more than we have to.
Yes, all of these things do add up, and people can keep thousands if they are well versed in tax code. It is great that you have the discipline to keep all these records straight. With today's technology, it is much simpler to DIY accounting and taxes than it was +20 years ago. Also, people don't realize that all the tax code is public and easily accessible, even if they read like a poorly translated owner's manual.
However, even a good number of people with "middle class" jobs, renting, not really donating much (occasional trip to Goodwill), use a FSA accounts for pre-tax medical, even taking full advantage of IRAs and/or 401ks, the standard deduction can be more than itemizing.
Corporations are asking to help support their own survival?
Or are you saying all panhandlers are scammers? I know some who are not.
Are you saying there is no way to audit the distribution of donated funds given to corporation charity drives the same as you can't audit a panhandler?
You can audit many charitable organizations if you want to.
In principle, however, I agree that there is inadequate accountability for corporations where money handling is concerned and there should be oversight of people seeking donations in public spaces to ensure they do not use the money to further negative or criminal ends.
i was standing in check out line once, and the customer in front was short like, 17 cents, and reached into the loose change/charity donation dish, and the manager threated to call the cops because that was stealing.
as if it was stealing from the actual store.
i guess it could also be stealing from the charity, but if they called the charity, you think a rep would call the cops for a few cents ?
later found out that the loose change donations were pooled by staff as "tips" and divided up.
made the news once, bc a cashier or stocker complained that the managers took all the money and shorted everyone, or straight up took it themselves.
they don't have to disclose that amount and the charity doesn't do daily collections.
i think it was walmart and their children miracle charity or something.
maybe its just a front for walmart empire, masquerading as a charity, and its just straight up unreported cash.
pretty nice racket.
No, it's worse!
The matey on the street corner actually directly needs that money. The corporation doesn't need it, they may pass it along to somebody that does but they'll probably claim it as their donation for tax purposes to profit off of it.
Any business asking for donations at check out is misleading sale. They already paid and sent that money to whatever org they are advertising. They are now asking you to refill their empty bucket back to regain those loses and if it's spills over the bucket, then no one will know, but them and naturally pocket all that overspill.
Even better when they are having police escort panhandlers off the property or easements in front of the store, then you walk in and they are asking for donations at the counter.
What? Do people think it isn't as bad? I staunchly believe it's *worse* than panhandling by a longshot. The corporations are using charities for their business benefit, which is a greedy and underhanded tactic. They may be able to write off some taxes, or it may serve a marketing or whitewashing purpose.
I never donate to a charity at a checkout. I just donate to the charities I choose to support directly.
Corporations often spend more money advertising the amount of money they donate than the donations themselves. And when they ask you for a dollar or whatever at the register, it's usually because they've already agreed to donate a set amount to the charity, regardless of how much their customers donate.
In rare cases, the person on the street might be a scam, but the corporation is always a scam.
I don't see a CEO leaving their pent house to stand in the hot sun or snow all day to pay for a hot meat or even a beer. There's a guy by my house that landscaped all of the highway corners, cleaned up all the garbage around the fence, and asked for money or plants/to help his mission. Every time a saw him it restored some of my hope in this world. No CEO is doing that. They do "good" for tax cuts. Not for survival or the greater good.
But they have convinced some minimum wage worker to do the begging and guilt trip the customer.
Most of the cashier staff have no idea it's about the tax write off.
I disagree. It's way worse. They're going to use those donations against their tax liability, essentially using your goodwill to steal from the government and then from society/you. Let's not forget they get added benefit from their "virtue signaling" which they refuse to even pay for. So, did I change your mind?
Unless you’re giving wrong information on purpose, there is no way you’ve taken an accounting class, much less gotten a degree in it. This isn’t a complicated issue. Either the company declares the donation as income, and then deducts the charitable donation, or the company serves as a pass-through, doesn’t declare the income, and can’t deduct the donation. Either way, it’s a net zero in terms of tax liability.
But please, since you want to claim these credentials, go ahead and cite a credible source supporting your position.
Panhandling in a three piece suit with a stack of hundreds coming out of their pocket.
And those hundreds are because they jacked up the prices while giving to the middle finger. You in the other hand are worried about becoming the panhandler in the street corner.
The pamhandler at least has the humility to stand there with a sign.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are pimping out the panhandlers themselves and collecting the money afterwards...
Here's the reality of the way it works. Oftentimes corporations ask customers to donations for causes they want to support and then offer to match the donations. Money you donate legally goes to the donated company directly and the corporation does not benefit from this donation via tax write off, they do benefit from the matching donation that they donate but it's the same as if you donate something, it's a marginal write off, if you have a donation of $1k you don't pay taxes if you are itemizing on that $1k but it's not like you get a full $1k off your taxes, same for the corp. That comes off revenue not taxes directly. But what they doo benefit from is community good will from running the donation, publicity for money raised and sometimes even occasionally they strike back end deals with these charities where maybe the charity might wind up procuring supplies from the donation source like Safeway or Kroger. Donating in this way also ensures that charity dollar go to organizations with values that the store supports and can even create a chain of donations to specific lobbying ventures in ways you don't expect. The real main issue though personally is if you round up and donate to charity at the register 50-100 times it makes it a lot harder to track your donations at the end of the year if you ARE itemizing. So I always recommend picking a charity you trust and have vetted and donating personally and in lump sums to make it easy to track and know that your dollars are going to a good cause and you get the maximum benefits. Not sure where to donate? Good places to start are charity ratings websites like charity navigator or charity watch. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!
That's some good data, so wondering if you can answer this. The corp has to send the funds to the charity, but in what time frame? And if that timeframe isn't immediate, do they get to keep the interest made off the money as it waits?
That's an interesting wrinkle, I'm not sure, but as these drives are often limited, and in the States at last you should see the donation on a receipt... I doubt they hold onto your money for very long, I'm not inclined to want to speculate further than that nor believe it to be a significant issue.
Impressive. This is one of the dumbest reddit posts I've seen for a while. And if you truly feel this way, nothing anyone tells you, no matter how factual it is, will change your mind.
true. someone on the streets has a lot more credibility than a corporation.
I dont get it? Corporations aren't asking for donations for themselves. OP, are you drunk in the shower again?
Well in the US, they absolutely do. Most often about leaving a tip. For a company that doesn’t even do service stuff like a restaurant. Being asked for a tip by the self checkout is just the worst.
That's absolutely not the same thing
It is though, because the employees don’t get any of it. So who gets it? The company. For existing I guess. So it’s not really a tip. It’s a donation.
What are you talking about? Tips are property of the employee, the employer can’t take them.
Welcome to America!
Cynicism is not a substitute for intelligence. You’re embarrassing yourself
Yes, in America tips are the property of the employee.
And why would anyone break the law? You could be punished if you get caught! That doesn’t mean people won’t still do it. Nobody is gonna do anything about it either. Because it’s expensive to fight it.
The Department of Labor does something about it all the time.
And the fines are ridiculous and in the form of chains. They apply to every store which cannot prove the money went to the employees. This is actually one of the few times where you are guilty until proven innocent. Because legal practice makes the proof trivial. If you know of a company that is doing this contact your state dept of labor. If you identify corruption in your states dept of labor election years are a great time to be loud about that sort of thing. Ofc It will be addressed at the speed of government for sure. But that means more of a case history for them to absolutely SINK the offending business for a clear history of infractions.
When you talk I hear the Xfiles theme play. Labor is heavily regulated in the United states. Which is why its scary that theres a push for the deregulation. As of now. This is a crackpot conspiracy signaling right now. But if people feed into the deregulate labor it will be great for industry party line sure you might have merit. So are you a time traveler or just a pseudo intellectual?
Don’t know what experiences have led you to this wrong of a perception of the world but it is not good business practice to continually steal from your employees. Sure this might happen with a store here or there but I can promise you in no way are there thefts on a massive scale like you’re insinuating.
Legally? Yeah mostly. In practice? HAH!!!
The companies can use it as a way to achieve tax writeoffs.
No, they can’t: “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. **In other words, your gift has zero impact on the store’s income taxes.**” https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/who-gets-tax-benefit-those-checkout-donations-0
It does have an impact that runs deeper through lobbying and company product deals. Both things you have no say in as it happens after the fact
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That’s not how tax breaks work. Literally all the tax breaks do is make it so the company doesn’t have to pay taxes on the money that they collected for donation.
This is 100% false. And even if it wasn’t “we took in $1000 and donated $1000 for we don’t have to pay taxes on $1000” doesn’t actually get them ahead.
why should regular folks donate **THEIR** money to have a **COMPANY/ORGANIZATION** take a tax break ? we should just donate directly and also get the tax break.
If a customer donates at the register, the donation is the customer’s to deduct from their taxes, not the company’s. It’s not income/revenue for the company that you pay it to at the register to pass onto whatever charity/organization. It’s not deducted/a tax break because there is nothing to deduct it from.
I’m pretty sure if you keep the receipt you can get a tax break on it. Also, I doubt most people would donate directly (mainly because they could, but don’t).
You clearly didn’t read. The company doesn’t get a tax break. And even if they did get a tax break then they would pay the same taxes if they collect the money and donate it as if they didn’t collect the money. It’s not “donate $1000 dollars and pay $1000 less in taxes”, it’s “donate $1000 and don’t pay taxes on $1000”. You might pay $300 less in taxes, but you’re also out $700 dollars in donates, so it’s a net loss. And that money is yours to claim on taxes, but since it’s usually rounding up, who is going to claim a deduction $0.56.
You honestly think every donated cent makes it to the “charity”
No but they make the donations with the donated money, claim a tax break on it because it’s a charitable donation, and profits stay the same. It’s a racket
Yeah that’s absolutely not true. I’m not sure where this idea comes from. https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/who-gets-tax-benefit-those-checkout-donations-0
It came from redditors like this guy who confidently state false information and then feel self righteous about their fabricated facts.
Well I have to thank him for something at least he said it first so I won't make a fool of myself that's why you should always learn before you respond.
Corporations aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their hearts! Our wages are stagnant, corporate profits are sky high, and they have the audacity to ask US to give them more money? Why don’t they make the donations themselves instead of paying their CEOs 8 or 9 figures? Asking me to round up is insulting. Maybe I’d be more likely to if I didn’t just pay $8 for a jar of peanut butter.
1. We aren’t giving *them* money. We’re giving the charity money. 2. They do make donations themselves. You know both parties can donate right? It’s not one or the other. 3. If you find that insulting then don’t go out or grow some thicker skin. 4. You should be able to find much cheaper peanut butter.
i think so too. lets say a company collects $2000. that charity rep comes up to collect. they only provide $1000 ($1000 split with staff). or they report that nothing was collected at all. company/staff takes it all in, and charity wouldnt know. i think this pertains to those loose change jars. obviously the "round up your change" at the card terminal would track down those donations.
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Can we please stop spreading this tax deduction bullshit? “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. **In other words, your gift has zero impact on the store’s income taxes**.” https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/who-gets-tax-benefit-those-checkout-donations-0
What benefits do they reap? The tax deduction doesn’t reduce their taxable income below what it would be if they hadn’t collected the money for charity. If two corporations make $1000 but one collects an additional $100 in donations that is then given to charity (making their total $1100), they can deduct that $100 bringing their total taxable income back to $1000. There isn’t really any direct benefit to the corporation other than marketing.
Corporations aren't panhandling on the street corner. I'm not trying to change your mind, but I am stating facts.
[Really?](https://blog.adquick.com/blog/why-location-is-so-critical/)
I'm not clicking on the link, but are all the offices on the street corner? Are the departments that mock up the pamphlets and the mailroom docking bays on the corner? Are the recipients of those donation requests receiving them on the corner?
Panhandlers ask for money for themselves without any real oversight. Depending on the place and person some make more than you would expect. Donations go to a vetted cause that you can choose to support, assuming the corporation is not corrupted as hell and the founders aren't buying multi-million dollar mansions with the donations. One is self-serving and the other is supposed to be in service of others. So yeah, different.
Those type of donations that corporations pledge to pay x amount total or x amount of profits are kind of worthless to support as a customer. Generally speaking if a corporation says they are accepting donations from customers to meet a certain amount for charity, the company is already going to pay that amount regardless, if you decide to give some yourself you are just helping the corporation spend less of their own money. So yeah, it goes to a good cause so you can feel good about yourself but it would be better to donate to a cause directly yourself.
They are still donating more than the average panhandler
Which corporations asking for donations do you know of that have no corruption?
As soon as you add a human being to the mix there is a risk of corruption, probably a certainty, and the more people you add the higher the risk. I guess a good question would be what percentage loss of your donation would you tolerate before you stopped donating? Most charitable organizations have books to balance and if they were found to be completely ineffectual to their cause they would run the risk of having to shut down or even receive criminal charges depending on why.
For me, it's not about the percentage. It's about what they're trying to achieve at all, and if they're going about it in an effective way. For instance, I'd rather donate to MSF, which has teams on the ground in many parts of the world providing medical care, than to a charity which is set up to, say, build a park bench. Even if I knew that 100% of the money was going towards that bench, and even knowing that only a small fraction of money going to MSF goes to actually delivering care, I'd still most likely feel that MSF is a better use of my charity. I'd feel fine donating to a research institution. I'd never donate to a megachurch.
Very well thought out answer. I can appreciate and get on board with that rationale.
I know of none that have the kind of corruption that takes money from their donations. There may be price gouging, but there's receipts on all the donations.
BLM comes to mind. Edit: These are my favorite downvotes, the ones spawned from lemmings that can't cope with the fact that they supported an organization whose founders stole millions in donations and did nothing for the cause they said they stood for. Just a political tool to drum up division among Americans so politicians had something to run on.
That's a corporation formed to get donations, as in a non-profit corporation. We're talking about for profit corps like Walmart that take donations on behalf of charities at the till. It always goes to the charities.
‘Always’ might be a bit of a stretch
Youre implying that corporations and corruption can be mutually exclusive. I feel like every corp has some level of corruption just to keep competing with more corrupted ones
Sometimes even if the founders are buying multi-million dollar mansions and the corporation is corrupted as hell, it's still on the balance not bad. The head of Memorial Sloan Kettering makes over $1m per year, so if he wanted to buy a multi-million dollar mansion and he hasn't already, he could totally make that happen. And as someone who's worked most of his career at nonprofits, I can tell you that there is shady stuff at all levels of that organization. Would I still donate to it? Sure!
You're absolutely right. I would assume the 1m they make is their pay rather than some form of corruption. I touch on it somewhere else, but there is probably a percentage of loss to corruption you would tolerate if you were donating. A line somewhere for everyone. I forget which popular group it was, maybe Girl Scouts, but only $0.25 per box of cookies goes to helping the scouts. Again, don't quote me on the group, but the circumstance is real. While that's not necessarily corruption, it kind of fits the bill for being okay with only a small portion of your donation going to the cause and ultimately it's better than nothing. Especially given how many boxes/quarters they move.
I think op is talking about corporations asking for donations to themselves
Companies are already donating to charities for tax write offs regardless. When companies ask the customer for a donation you’re giving the company money directly. Goes right back into their pocket
I don't get it. How is asking me for donations that go to, say, a children's hospital in any way similar to panhandling? Or are you talking about things like public radio or public television, which provide a service and hope for donations to stay in business? I guess that might be commercial-grade street performers, who play music and hope you put money in their guitar case. That's not really the same thing as panhandling, though.
> I don't get it. How is asking me for donations that go to, say, a children's hospital in any way similar to panhandling? Easy. People don't like being asked to donate at the register just as much as they don't like being reminded that homeless/poor people exist.
Begging for money is the same whether you call it a "donation" or not.
Are you talking about donations to the corporations themselves?
Pan handling is not tax deductible Corporations typically ask for donations for a charity. Which is tax deductible.
CLAIM: When a customer elects to donate to charity at a store’s checkout counter, the store can write off that donation on its own end-of-year taxes. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Stores can’t write off a customer’s point-of-sale donations, because they don’t count as company income, according to tax policy experts. Customers can write off their own donations if they choose. Stores are allowed to write off their own donations, such as when a store donates a certain portion of all its proceeds to charity. https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-000329849244
And those never get mixed together by accident
Big corps have third party compliance companies come in on a yearly basis to comb through the books, interview employees, and report their findings. They aren't going to risk fines, potentially tanking their stock, and generating ill will from the public just to skim a couple million from charity donations.
The fines tend to be pennies in the grand scheme and no that won’t tank their stock. These companies aren’t doing it out of the goodness of their heart
>The fines tend to be pennies in the grand scheme and no that won’t tank their stock. I own stocks, if I heard a company's accounting department was incompetent enough to mix this stuff up, I'd be worried about the competency of the other reports they make for investors. >These companies aren’t doing it out of the goodness of their heart Goodwill. Public relations.
Yeah, not how it works at all though.
To my knowledge, charitable donations made by customers are not tax deductible.
You only need a receipt for [donations of $250 or more](https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc506#:~:text=For%20any%20contribution%20of%20%24250,property%20other%20than%20cash%20contributed). Feel free to send your panhandling donation to Jagid3, PO Box Zero, Nowhere NW 00000.
That's a tax deduction for the customer, not for the store collecting donations which is why the store can't get the deduction.
Yes. One must spend money in order to use it to decrease the amount of money one pays taxes on. I am not sure that everyone understands how taxes work. If I have $1,000 of taxable income and a 33 percent tax rate, I get to keep $670. If I have $1,000 of taxable income and I donate $250 to charity, I now have $750 of taxable income. Perhaps I am now at a lower tax bracket, let's say a 29 percent one. I keep $532.50. So originally I would have kept $670 and now I keep $532.50 and the charity gets $250 for a net benefit of $782.50, an improvement of $32.50 overall. This is a gross oversimplification, but I think it makes the point. If you donate $250, you do not get $250 off your taxes. You get $250 off your **taxable income**. Your tax rate determines your savings, which will not be $250 unless your tax rate is 100 percent.
Yes, deduction off taxable income. I think this is where some people mix up tax deductions and tax credits. For a great many people that only have one revenue stream with an average job, with an average income, these donations and subsequent deductions don't apply because these people typically elect for a "standard deduction." Itemizing deductions can be a headache.
What a terrible waste. We keep track of everything we donate. We keep track of the garage-sale value of anything we give away. We keep track of every mile we drive for business, for volunteer work, and for medical. "Medical?" you ask? Yes! If you spend a certain amount of your overall income on medical expenses there is a rate you can deduct from your taxes for every mile you drive. My wife and I are scrupulous tax payers. We are very honest and pay every penny the tax laws force out of our iron-fisted death grips. If we are audited we are bulletproof, but we don't send a penny more than we have to.
Yes, all of these things do add up, and people can keep thousands if they are well versed in tax code. It is great that you have the discipline to keep all these records straight. With today's technology, it is much simpler to DIY accounting and taxes than it was +20 years ago. Also, people don't realize that all the tax code is public and easily accessible, even if they read like a poorly translated owner's manual. However, even a good number of people with "middle class" jobs, renting, not really donating much (occasional trip to Goodwill), use a FSA accounts for pre-tax medical, even taking full advantage of IRAs and/or 401ks, the standard deduction can be more than itemizing.
Corporations are asking to help support their own survival? Or are you saying all panhandlers are scammers? I know some who are not. Are you saying there is no way to audit the distribution of donated funds given to corporation charity drives the same as you can't audit a panhandler? You can audit many charitable organizations if you want to. In principle, however, I agree that there is inadequate accountability for corporations where money handling is concerned and there should be oversight of people seeking donations in public spaces to ensure they do not use the money to further negative or criminal ends.
i was standing in check out line once, and the customer in front was short like, 17 cents, and reached into the loose change/charity donation dish, and the manager threated to call the cops because that was stealing. as if it was stealing from the actual store. i guess it could also be stealing from the charity, but if they called the charity, you think a rep would call the cops for a few cents ? later found out that the loose change donations were pooled by staff as "tips" and divided up. made the news once, bc a cashier or stocker complained that the managers took all the money and shorted everyone, or straight up took it themselves. they don't have to disclose that amount and the charity doesn't do daily collections. i think it was walmart and their children miracle charity or something. maybe its just a front for walmart empire, masquerading as a charity, and its just straight up unreported cash. pretty nice racket.
.... these are very different things.
Wrong. Panhandlers deserve the money lol
Panhandle can't use donations as tax write offs.
Actually it is. It's like giving the panhandler money and when you're finishing up he asks for more for his buddy.
Think you could round that up to the nearest dollar for Daryl?
Donations to corporations are tax-deductible.
Millionaires asking for money is no different than panhandling on the street corner for no reason.
Panhandling from their mansion's balcony.
The panhandler actually needs help most of the time.
Heifer DID panhandle me on a streetcorner... it worked 😭
There are better subreddits for this
No, it's worse! The matey on the street corner actually directly needs that money. The corporation doesn't need it, they may pass it along to somebody that does but they'll probably claim it as their donation for tax purposes to profit off of it.
Any business asking for donations at check out is misleading sale. They already paid and sent that money to whatever org they are advertising. They are now asking you to refill their empty bucket back to regain those loses and if it's spills over the bucket, then no one will know, but them and naturally pocket all that overspill.
I see how similarity was made, but isn't their a difference
Even better when they are having police escort panhandlers off the property or easements in front of the store, then you walk in and they are asking for donations at the counter.
"Foreign aid is when the poor people (that's us) of a rich country give money to the rich people of a poor country." -- Michael (Yellow) Parenti
No, it is much worse. Corporations then take those collected donations and make donations in the store's name to get tax breaks.
Not true, sorry!
Asking for money that helps out is good either and any way
Helps their tax cuts on your dime
What? Do people think it isn't as bad? I staunchly believe it's *worse* than panhandling by a longshot. The corporations are using charities for their business benefit, which is a greedy and underhanded tactic. They may be able to write off some taxes, or it may serve a marketing or whitewashing purpose. I never donate to a charity at a checkout. I just donate to the charities I choose to support directly.
Kinda how I see the Republican Presidential candidate, a street corner begger.
Corporations often spend more money advertising the amount of money they donate than the donations themselves. And when they ask you for a dollar or whatever at the register, it's usually because they've already agreed to donate a set amount to the charity, regardless of how much their customers donate. In rare cases, the person on the street might be a scam, but the corporation is always a scam.
No it's worse . They guve it in their name to get the tax cut.
Corporations take your donation and use it to get themselves a tax break. I don't think the local guy with a sign has a system that complex.
Nope, not true.
I don't see a CEO leaving their pent house to stand in the hot sun or snow all day to pay for a hot meat or even a beer. There's a guy by my house that landscaped all of the highway corners, cleaned up all the garbage around the fence, and asked for money or plants/to help his mission. Every time a saw him it restored some of my hope in this world. No CEO is doing that. They do "good" for tax cuts. Not for survival or the greater good.
But they have convinced some minimum wage worker to do the begging and guilt trip the customer. Most of the cashier staff have no idea it's about the tax write off.
Well funnily enough its actually just evil Panhandlers are the result of those corporations
I see your point. Sometimes either party may misuse ur $.
Only Redditors defend corporations, Fucking “well akshually” ass mfs
Panhandlers don't generally write it off on their taxes. Checkmate atheists
Panhandler doesn’t get a tax write-off for taking your money, corporations do.
I disagree. It's way worse. They're going to use those donations against their tax liability, essentially using your goodwill to steal from the government and then from society/you. Let's not forget they get added benefit from their "virtue signaling" which they refuse to even pay for. So, did I change your mind?
Not how that works, please stop regurgitating misinformaton
I'll try to. The problem is I got my undergrad and grad in accounting.
Damn, you should know how taxes work then. How embarrassing.
Unless you’re giving wrong information on purpose, there is no way you’ve taken an accounting class, much less gotten a degree in it. This isn’t a complicated issue. Either the company declares the donation as income, and then deducts the charitable donation, or the company serves as a pass-through, doesn’t declare the income, and can’t deduct the donation. Either way, it’s a net zero in terms of tax liability. But please, since you want to claim these credentials, go ahead and cite a credible source supporting your position.