Barbara Fenster
Did you know that you can get up to $500 per person, or $1000 for a married couple filing jointly, of your taxes back under a unique Arizona law?
If you donate up to $1000 to a qualifying foster care agency, such as Free Arts for Abused Children (www.freeartsaz.org/donate) you can then take a tax credit for the full amount. This is not a donation deduction, although you can deduct the same contribution from your federal taxes. This is a tax credit, which means that after you finish your taxes, you subtract your contribution directly from what you owe, at the bottom of your tax form. You reduce your total taxes by the amount you donate.
This tax credit program allows you to designate how your tax money is spent, instead of it going into the state general fund. In the case of donating to Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona, your money will go to providing therapeutic arts mental health programs to abused, neglected and emotionally disturbed children in foster care.
This tax program is also good for qualified agencies that serve qualifying charitable agencies and schools, although the amount of the tax credit is smaller.
It’s a win-win tax program – and there aren’t many of those; it’s one you should think of taking advantage.
You can get more information from www.freeartsaz.org/donate or the state department of revenue website https://www.azdor.gov/TaxCredits/QualifyingCharitableOrganizations.aspx.