Paycheck donations and W2's

[bank5]

In 2009, I had a small amount of each paycheck go to a charity. I was doing my taxes and wondering if this charitable contribution is already factored into my W2's.

Or am I suppose to enter it separately on my tax forms as a charitable contribution?

[Sue J]

Unless you know for sure that it was a pre-tax contribution, it's after-tax and a deduction for you. You enter it in your cash contributions on your Schedule A. You should have a letter or receipt from the charity from when you made your pledge to have it withheld.

If you don't itemize then it really doesn't help you outside of knowing you made a contribution.

[Bestwifeever]

DH always gave via paycheck deduction to the United Way and he never got a letter from anyone saying he had made a contribution. I just used the year-to-date total from the end of the year paycheck info when I did our taxes.

[ziggy29]

As far as I know these are not made with pre-tax dollars, so your W-2 won't be reduced by the amount of the donations. Too bad -- if they were, it would be a good way to "write off" charitable donations without itemizing.