Disclosures

Who we are, and who we are not

SGO Direct is an independent technology platform and is not affiliated with the IRS, U.S. Treasury, or any state government.

We are a private company. Nobody at the IRS, Treasury, or any state government reviewed this site, endorsed it, or has anything to do with it. If you see an official-looking seal here, we made a mistake.

We do not give tax advice

Tax treatment depends on applicable law and individual circumstances. Consult a qualified tax professional.

We will tell you what the law says and what you have given. We will not tell you what you will save, because that depends on your income, your filing status, and what you owe. Anyone offering you that number for this credit without seeing your return is guessing.

The credit is nonrefundable

The §25F credit is nonrefundable. It can reduce your federal income tax to zero but will not generate a refund. Your actual benefit depends on your tax liability.

We never hold your money

Contributions are processed by Stripe as direct charges on the receiving organization’s own account. That organization is the merchant of record. Funds do not pass through an SGO Direct account at any point, and your card statement will show the organization’s name rather than ours.

Because the organization is the merchant of record, refunds and disputes are handled by them, not by us.

We never ask for your Social Security number

Treasury has indicated that donors will be issued a number by the IRS for this purpose. No part of this product collects, stores, or accepts a Social Security number, and text that looks like one is rejected on entry.

Listing status is not federal approval

No state has yet filed its §25F list of organizations with the IRS, and the IRS has published no federal list. Nothing in our directory is federally approved, and we do not describe anything that way.

Where an organization’s listing has been checked against a published official source, we show the source and the date we checked. Where it has not, we say so on the card. Inclusion in our directory is not a recommendation, an endorsement, or a determination that a gift will qualify.

What is still unsettled

Treasury has not published final regulations under §25F. Some parts of this site are deliberately unfinished until it does, including federal donor identification numbers and IRS reporting.

Specifically, at the date above, none of the following is resolved:

• How the IRS will issue donor identification numbers.
• The format and channel for reporting contributions to the IRS.
• The exact language a contribution acknowledgment must carry.
• Whether the annual ceiling applies per tax return or per taxpayer, which matters to anyone filing jointly.
• How a third-party service fee taken from a qualified contribution is treated. We have switched fees off rather than guess.

When these are published we will update the site and, where it affects a receipt you already hold, reissue it and keep the original on file.

Questions

How it works covers the mechanics, and the FAQ covers most of the rest.