Many people may wish to contribute to relief funds for the victims of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami. There are some simple steps you can take to ensure that your contributions go to qualified charities. Taxpayers who have a specific charity in mind can make sure that it is a qualified charity by doing a search on IRS.gov. Some organizations, such as churches or governments, may be qualified even though they are not listed on IRS.gov.

Contributions to foreign organizations generally are not deductible. To get a tax benefit for making a charitable contribution, taxpayers must itemize their deductions on Schedule A for the year in which they made the contribution. IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions, provides information on making contributions to charities. Publication 3833, Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance through Charitable Organizations, explains how the public can use charitable organizations to help victims of disasters, and how new organizations can obtain tax-exempt status. Both publications are available on IRS.gov.