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Youth Newz&
SR. HIGH BASKETBALL
Sunday afternoons
Jan 7--Feb 18
Registration Deadline: Dec. 12
Get your friends together and sign up to be in this league! The cost is $10/person and includes a team t-shirt. All games will be at St. John's. Teams are 8 people. You may create your own team or sign up to join a team. A schedule will be sent to all players in December. All players need to turn in $10 and permission slip to Rick Craig at the parish center by deadline. (Please specify shirt size and number on the permission slip. No digit larger than 5.) Friends welcome. If you are in a high school league, you may endanger your eligibility by playing on this league. Call Rick Craig with questions (763) 754-7666.
Stewardship&
TAXES AND TIMING OF YEAR END GIVING
Charitable donations are deductible for income tax purposes in the year that the donation is actually made. This means that our last opportunity for giving in 2000 will generally be the offering in the last Sunday of the year, December 31. Why is this important? The most obvious answer is that contributions given after the last day of the year cannot be deducted until the next year. Our receipt of the tax benefit of that gift, the tax deduction on our income tax returns, is thus delayed a full year.
Another consideration here may be our expectations as to our tax brackets in the two years involved--2000 and 2001. If, for whatever reason, 2000 has been a very good year for us so that we're in a higher income tax bracket than we expect to be in 2001, the tax deduction for our gift to St. John's will be worth more in 2000 than in 2001. This is because under our progressive tax system, the tax brackets are progressively higher for additional, or marginal, amounts of income. Your next dollar of income will be taxed at your marginal bracket. So too, will your next dollar of giving to St. John's produce a tax benefit measured by your marginal bracket.
Therefore, if you expect a higher marginal tax bracket in 2000, is makes sense to ensure that your gift is made no later than December 31 for both of the reasons explained above. If you can't deliver your gift in person during the offertory on December 31, be sure to mail it to the Parish Office. In order for your mailed gift to qualify for deduction in 2000, it must be postmarked no later than December 31.
It is always a good idea to consult your tax advisor to determine how such planning affects your particular situation.
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