6 Nov
2003
6 Nov
'03
5:18 a.m.
>If all else fails in dire straits, surely the
person in question has
>enough different printers, and printing calculators, in their
>collection, that can produce different types of print, from dot-matrix
>to thermal and laser, as well as aged paper, to fudge a few receipts
>if necessary. ;-)
As long as it doesn't appear to hve been "recreated" for the audit, the
IRS will often just take your word for your cost for cash purchases at
flea markets, etc., so long as it fits their preconceptions, and that you
wrote it down at the time. But if they DON'T believe that you paid that,
...
Hmm. This got me thinking. I often find paper work
with this stuff
showing it's original costs (in the tens of thousands of dollars!) or it's
estimated used value (still in the $1000 range). I wonder if the IRS would
accept that instead of the reciept showing that I paid $2 for it :-)
If you lose the receipt, they'll take your word for what you paid, within
reasonable limits. If you lose MANY such, then you will be in violation
of IRS "rules" for "not maintaining proper records".
Something else to consider: If you donate something to a valid non-profit
(501C3?), then the amount that you can deduct is what you paid for it;
EXCEPT,... if you had had it for over a year before making the donation,
then you can deduct the "fair market value". I paid the usual $10 for a
Centronics 101 printer. A few years later, I donated it to City College
of San Francisco. (They NEEDED a printer for their TRS-80s that could
withstand heavy use and abuse) The IRS was perfectly content with my
taking a $1000 tax deduction, although, if I were to have made the
donation within the first year after I bought it, they would only have
permitted the $10.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com