On Friday, January 22, President Obama signed into law H.R. 4462, an untitled act to accelerate the income tax benefits for charitable cash contributions for the relief of victims of the Haiti earthquake (the Act). Under the Act, a taxpayer may treat certain charitable contributions made after January 11, 2010, and before March 1, 2010, as having been made on December 31, 2009, and not in 2010. The language of the Act effectively gives taxpayers a choice between claiming a 2009 deduction and claiming a 2010 deduction, subject to otherwise applicable limitations and restrictions.

In order to qualify under the Act, the contribution must satisfy all of the requirements for a charitable contribution deduction under the Code, must be made for the relief of victims in areas affected by the earthquake in Haiti on January 12 and must be made in cash. In recognition of a recent innovation in charitable giving, the Act also relaxes the record keeping and substantiation requirements otherwise applicable to such contributions. Under the Act, if the contribution is charged to a telephone or wireless services bill, these requirements are satisfied if the taxpayer has a telephone bill showing the name of the donee organization, the date of the contribution and the amount of the contribution.