Just this afternoon, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill allowing taxpayers to deduct donations given for Haitian earthquake relief in 2010 to be counted on their 2009 tax returns.

For this to go in affect, it must also be passed by the Senate and signed into law by the President, which is expected to happen.

If you would like to take advantage of this new deduction, please wait a few weeks until it is signed and the IRS has enough time to update their tax forms.  Tax filers who do not owe taxes will not be impacted and can file their taxes when they are ready.

This is not an unprecidented proposal.  In 2005, tsunami relief donations were allowed to be counted on 2004 tax returns.