Don't Try to Deduct Gifts to the Frat Party Fund

The tax code reflects all sorts of moral and value judgments, and Congress often decides to reward certain behavior with tax breaks. Owning a home, attending college and, of course, giving to charity all are hailed as worthy endeavors under the tax code.

Today we'll discuss charitable deductions.

You already know that charitable gifts can be written off as an itemized deduction on Schedule A. (If you claim the standard deduction rather than itemizing, you won't get any benefit from your donation ... well, no tax benefit, anyway.)

What you may not know, though, is that there are some restrictions about what you can and can't deduct, and the Internal Revenue Service is hip to the common maneuvers people use to skirt the rules. To that end, here's a little refresher on the details.

Nondeductible Contributions

You can deduct gifts to religious, charitable, educational and other philanthropic organizations; the vast majority of these are legit. But if you have doubts about whether the organization is truly tax-exempt, you can check with the IRS or public charity watchdog group Guidestar.

It's not exactly a free-for-all, though. Many kinds of charitable gifts are not deductible (usually for good reason). Contributions to political campaigns, political action committees or lobbying organizations are not deductible. Nor can you deduct contributions to for-profit hospitals or for-profit academic institutions.

The same goes for fraternities and sororities and other social clubs. Only groups that are exclusively operated for a charitable, religious or other approved philanthropic purpose enable the donor to deduct a contribution. That also rules out donations to civic leagues, chambers of commerce, labor unions and -- in a specific clause that must be a holdover from the Cold War -- communist or communist-front organizations.