The House and Senate have approved a bill to accelerate the income tax deduction for contributions to qualified charitable organizations for the relief of Haiti's earthquake victims. This would provide an immediate tax benefit for the donor and is intended to encourage maximum financial support for the victims as quickly as possible. The bill offers taxpayers making contributions after January 11, 2010 through March 1, 2010 the option to treat the contributions as deductions on their 2009 tax returns. You can take it on your 2009 or 2010 tax return, as long as you do not deduct it in both years.
Normally contributions are documented by a cancelled check, a bank record for debit cards, a credit card statement or a receipt from the charitable organization. In the case of the contribution being made via text message and chargeable to a telephone account, the telephone bill will serve as documentation if the name of the organization, the date and the amount of the contribution are listed.
A good thing to remember is that contributions to foreign charitable organizations are generally not deductible - so make sure your contribution is to a U.S. based charity.
The legislation is awaiting the president's approval.