Donate to a charity helping Haiti earthquake victims before March 1, and the Internal Revenue Service has some relief for you.

Read Published Article on CBSMoneyWatch.com

 Under a new law, you can actually write off a 2010 Haiti donation on your 2009 tax return if you itemize. (You can put the donation on your 2010 return next year if you prefer.) “This is quite unusual,” says Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of taxation for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. “But there are a number of requirements to qualify for this break.”

by Kerry Hannon for CBSMoneyWatch.com

Can an appliance rebate program do for dishwashers what the 2009 version did for the Ford Focus? In shopping malls and hardware stores across the land, the government is rolling out “Cash for Clunker Appliances,” an attempt to get you to spend madly on energy-efficient white goods, thereby saving both the economy and the environment. The federal Energy Star rebate program will hand out $50 to $250 apiece for certain types of appliances if you replace old energy gobblers with more efficient models. So if you’ve put off replacing your rattling washing machine, you may want to cash in, assuming you can. (More on that in a moment.)

Under the federal program, the rebates can go to buyers of new central air conditioners, room air conditioners, heat pumps, boilers, furnaces, washers, dishwashers, freezers, refrigerators, and water heaters with the Energy Star seal. (That’s the somewhat discredited label noting that a product meets federal energy efficiency guidelines. Some energy-use figures on the labels don’t reflect typical usage or haven’t been independently verified.)