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Better Business Bureau Offers Advice on Vehicle Donations
The Better Business Bureau offers general advice to people who want to make vehicle donations:
* Do research and ask professionals for help.
* Seek legal and financial advice before you donate your car. Does it make financial sense to donate your vehicle? Is the charity able to meet your giving needs?
* Get the charity's annual report and read it. Find out how the charity managed its budget in the last fiscal year, including how it spent income from vehicle donations.
* Ask the charity how it uses donated vehicles. Does it resell them at wholesale prices? Or does it refurbish the vehicles for disadvantaged families that need transportation?
* Get receipts. Make sure the receipt has the registered charity's identification number on it.
* Check with your state Attorney General's Office to make sure the charity is registered as a 501(c)3.
* Contact the Better Business Bureau to find out if it has information on file about the charity and its vehicle donations.
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Choose a car donation charity that is eligible
Donate Car For Charity Tip: The first thing you want to verify is that the charity of your choice is eligible to receive deductible auto donations. The organization should be able to provide you with an Internal Revenue Service Determination Letter that says they qualify as being a tax-exempt charity. This does not apply, however, for religious charities such as churches, which need not apply for exempt status.
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Ask Questions Before Making Car Donations
Many major charities accept car donations, letting people donate used vehicles for a good cause and get a tax write-off in return. But the process is not as simple as making a phone call, dropping off your unwanted vehicle and reaping the benefits of a tax write-off. First, learn the charity's mission. If you have a specific intent in mind for the gift, let the charity know. If it cannot meet your goal, you may want to consider other ogranizations. Charities may use car donations in their charitable work. For example, a car donation may directly help needy people with transportation. Most likely, the vehicles will be sold to raise money for the charity's programs or general fund. If the vehicles are sold, find out which programs the revenues fund. Perhaps the money can go to a particular charitable service or cause you support. Finally, ask if the charity oversees car donations or pays a firm to do it. If a for-profit company handles the vehicle donations, find out how much money the charity will receive from the sale and how much will go to the for-profit company. This kind of information may help you direct your car donation to the charity and cause that match your interests and goals.
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Look to the Office of the Attorney General for information on charities in California.
Donate Car For Charity Tip: The State of California's Office of the Attorney General maintains a current list of all charitable trusts and organizations operating programs to donate a car in California. You can access this list at http://caag.state.ca.us.
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How to Calculate the Car Donation Tax Deduction
The IRS only allows taxpayers to use the fair market value for a car donation tax deduction, when certain conditions are met.
The car donation cannot be worth more than $500 to receive a car donation tax deduction. Or, the car donation has to be used directly by the charity in its programs or services.
For example, if a charity uses a car donation for its meals-on-wheels program, the donor may be entitled to claim the car's fair market value as a tax deduction.
But the vehicle needs to be in proper condition for the donor to assign fair market value.
Be careful. Your used car's value may not be as high as the listing in area pricing guides. High mileage and the vehicle's condition may lower the value.
Check with the IRS to learn more on figuring your car donation's value at tax time.
Two publications may help: IRS Publication 526, "Charitable Deductions," and IRS Publication 561, "Determining the Value of Donated Property."
The guidelines make it easier for taxpayers to follow car donation tax law when giving to charities.
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Follow Simple Steps When You Donate an RV
Donate Car For Charity Tip: When you donate an RV, some registered charities may offer to pick up the RVs nationwide. The collection program makes it easier to get rid of your used RV and then apply for the tax deduction. You should ask for a receipt when the RV is picked up by a charity representative. Once the transfer is completed, you are entitled to a tax deduction for your RV donation. Typically, when you donate an RV, charities sell the vehicles and use a portion of the proceeds for their causes and programs. The charity is required to send you a copy of the resale receipt, which you will attach to your income taxes. The amount on that receipt is your tax deduction. Donors usually can use the price the charity receives at resale for their own tax deductions.
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Car Donation Services Benefit Donors in a Variety of Ways
What are you looking for in car donation services?
If it is simply speed, convenience and a program that will take an inoperable car, you may want to contact a national clearinghouse that represents a lot of charities.
These companies specialize in collecting just about any vehicle, no matter the condition. The companies will tow away and sell junk cars for their parts.
If you are seeking a charity than can make full use of your vehicle donation, you may have to do a little more work.
Check with your local United Way or Attorney General's Office to find a list of registered charities in your community.
Call the ones that interest you, and ask a lot of questions. Make sure the charity will use the donation for the services you want to support.
You may want to avoid charitable organizations that have high overhead costs for their vehicle donation programs. The high costs mean less money for the charity's programs and services.
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Many Reasons for Donating Cars
Donate Car For Charity Tip: Just about any vehicle these days can go to auto donation services. They include cars, trucks, motorcycles, campers, RVs, trailers, motorhomes, boats, yachts and airplanes. There are charitable groups that accept donations of classic cars and there are charities that will recycle junk cars. Americans are finding car donation services to be a useful and practical way to avoid the hassles of selling their unwanted vehicles on their own. Often the vehicles need major repairs, but this does not matter to many charities, which sell the autos and trucks for their parts at auctions. Or the vehicles are sold at a lower price to other individuals, many of them needy. Beyond the charitable act itself, car donation services are proving a useful tool for many Americans.
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