Donating a vehicle

[geno]

I have a 95 Subaru Legacy with 202K miles on it which I'd like to get rid of soon. I'm not going to get a lot of money for it when I try to sell it, despite the fact it runs great with only a couple of issues.

What can I expect from donating such a vehicle to charity? I would do so in good conscience since the car still has plenty of life in it, despite the mileage. Do they usually give book value for the donation? How does that work when tax returns come around? Does the value of the car get deducted from my taxable wage? The way I understand it, this is how it works, so I'd get a portion (15-20%?) of the donation amount back when returns come around, right?

 

[Xionide]

Well first of all it really depends. Is it awd? Autotragic or stick?

 

[geno]

AWD, Auto, ABS, dual airbags, power windows, power locks, power mirrors, cloth non-power interior, A/C and Cruise control (both in perfect working order), if any of that helps

 

[EXman]

Well it increases the likelyhood of an audit by the IRS a lot! Significantly enough my tax guru said don't bother.

 

[dullard]

People have abused that system for years by way over-inflating the value of their auto when it came to tax time. They closed that loophole a few years ago. If I understand it correctly, now you can deduct ONLY the value that the charity actually sold it for. If they sell it for $500 (you can always sell a running car for $500), then you get a $500 deduction. If you are in the 25% federal tax bracket and 8% state tax bracket, then that means you get $500 * (25% + 8%) = $165 savings on your taxes. Of course, you could just sell it for $500.

 

[Xionide]

Damn too bad your so far away. I might have bought it.

 

[BabaBooey]

Here ya go geno...


Car donations and laws / rules for boston..

 

[mozirry]

or you could just keep driving it and save money =)

That's what I have done with my 97 saturn

 

[kranky]

The deduction depends on how the charity uses the car. If it's sold by the charity, then you can only deduct how much the organization got from the sale. But if the charity uses the car directly in its work, you can deduct the fair market value.

Let's say a charity provides vehicles to needy people. That would be an example of the charity using the car directly.

The charity must be a 501(c)(3) registered charitable organization, and of course you must itemize deductions in order to use the deduction.