It's that time of year again -- the dreaded tax time, unless you're expecting a fat tax return.
I'm usually fairly good about keeping track of my tax items. The one thing I seem to have difficulty with is donations. It's not always easy to keep track, especially with those spur-of-the-moment donations at special events or functions. I set out to find some kind of app that would help with this endeavor throughout the year, so I wouldn't have to do next year what I had to do this year -- comb through a year of bank statements to find any donations I made.
The first thing I stumbled upon was a fantastic tax reference tool. It's very simple but very helpful. It's the Bloomberg BNA Quick Tax Reference, and it's available for both Android and iPhone.
The reference is essentially a plain-English list of frequently asked tax questions, which it answers simply. It provides the standard mileage rates for 2014 for business, charitable work or medical and moving trips. Need to know the tax rate for estates and gifts? A table is provided with one tap. Standard deductions are provided, as well.
What I really like about this app is that not only does it show the information for the current tax year (2014), but it also provides information for the next tax year. It's simple to use and stable. Best of all, it's free.
On the Android phone, I found a free app that I thought was exactly what I needed. My Donation Tracker does exactly what the name suggests -- tracks donations. It isn't available on the iPhone, however.
That isn't necessarily a loss. My Donation Tracker started out with promise. I could input the name of the charitable organization, whether the donation was an item, cash or mileage, the amount of mileage and the amount of cash or value of the donated items. I could even take a photo and attach it, so I could keep the receipts. At least, that's the idea.
Unfortunately, none of the photos actually showed up. It acted as if they were attached, but you couldn't see anything. It was rather frustrating. It also didn't have an item estimate. I had to guess myself.
The biggest issue is stability. It was nearly nonexistent. The app crashed frequently -- when I was adding a donation, when I was taking a photo, when I was trying to email the donations summary -- you get the idea.
On the iPhone, I found a free tool from Intuit's TurboTax called ItsDeductible. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the same tool for the Android, though there are tax planners from Intuit on that platform.
ItsDeductible turned out to be exactly what I wanted. The first step was to fill out the information for the charities, but the app was able to locate the more common ones quickly and plug in the information. I could input the frequency of the donation, the type and amount (of mileage or cash), a description and whether a receipt was obtained. I couldn't photograph the receipt, unfortunately. I could get a decent estimate of the value of donated items, which I liked. All I had to do was give the general condition of the item, and the program figured the donation for me.
The program showed a list of donations and provided their estimated tax savings for me. I wanted to print or send the entire list of donations. Unfortunately, I had to email them one at a time, which was a bit frustrating. But at least I had full reports of each item, and the software let me list past donations for 2014 or switch to 2015 to prepare for next year's taxes.
The only catch is, you must have a TurboTax account to use this app. The good news is, the account is free and easy to set up right in the app. So really, it's not much of a catch. If I could photograph the receipts and/or items and mail a single donation report, this item would be darn-near perfect for me.
My last chance was with a program available for both Android and iPhone platforms. Once again, this one requires an account be set up with the company's online software. However, the app makes up for the trouble by providing nearly all of what I needed.
TaxACT Donation Assistant provides a list of donated items, cash or mileage for the current and next tax year, as well as a couple of past years. Once a charity is added, Donation Assistant stores it in a database so it's easy to use again.
The program not only allows cash and mileage donations, but it also provides general estimates for the value of donated items. It also allows you to take a photo of the receipt and attach it to each donation entry. The home screen shows each charity and the total amount donated to it, but a quick tap of the charity name and a list appears of each individual donation.
The best part is, all of the donations can be compiled into one report and sent via email. The report is divided between donated items, cash donations and mileage, making it easy to fill out that information on tax forms.
It took a while to find it, but Donation Assistant was well worth the search. It's the best of the ones I tested for iPhone and Android, and it's free on both. For those looking to keep track of their charity work, this is the app that can best do it.
It's going to make next year's tax season a lot easier to handle -- and it may help improve that tax refund.
Melissa L. Jones can be reached via email at mljones72@me.com.
SundayMonday Business on 03/16/2015