December 2004 Newsletter

Last chance for tax write-offs for charitable donations, and, CLEAN ALL YOUR PERSONAL INFO/DATA OFF YOUR DRIVE!

Happy Holidays!

It's the end of the year and the last 5 days of the month you
will hear lots of advice about financial actions to reduce the
amount of taxes you pay for calander year 2004. Along with
financial contributions to charities, you can also donate
items like computers, and take a tax write-off. One of the
ways to reduce the amount of income tax you owe is to give
items of value to charitable nonprofits, take a deduction, and
save on taxes or increase your refund. Get rid of those items
you have lying around taking up space that you may never use
again and turn them into cash!

Charities (non-profits) issue a charitable receipt claiming
they received your item(s) but it's up to you to place a value
on the item. It is the donor's responsibility to support the value claimed, and because we reuse within our program, the items you give us, you can deduct the full fair-market value.

We advise you to consult your tax adviser (CPA, Enrolled
Agent, etc.) to make sure you are doing the right thing for
your tax circumstances and valuing the item in accordance with
the law. When donating to an educational nonprofit, there are
additional federal deductions and credits that may be available to you.

So How Do You Determine The Value Of Computer Stuff You Have
To Donate???
If you are an individual looking to determine the value of
your item, one way is to look in your local newspaper in the
classifieds. See what computers that sound like yours are
being advertised for and cut out the part of the page with the
ad and the date at the top of the page.

If you are a business you may already have thi item(s) "on the books", and valued. You may prepare a letter with the
inventory and value you claim, and the nonprofit can sign the
letter as having received the items.

Remember, you may have a monitor that you get a charitable
receipt for, and you may have to STILL pay afee. This fee may cover the handling and transportation or an enviromental
disposal charge, because of state laws regarding e-waste or
hazardous waste.

Before you get rid of your computer, remember these two rules:

1. Computer equipment to donate for reuse, working or
nonworking, has a better chance for reuse if you leave all the
parts in it, and,

2. Clean Off Your Files from your hard drive. A friendly way
to destroy data is by using software application programs
like: Active@Killdisk, DataEraser, or WipeDrive, etc.
Here are some websites I found through web search engines with free one-time download disc-wipe software:
www.thefreecountry.com/security/securedelete.shtml
www.softforall.com/Utilities/FileDisk/R-Wipe_andClean_PC_Privacy,_Hard_Driv e_Clean09040071.htm
and there are lots more you will find with your own search.
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