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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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Be sure you give to a qualified charity if you want to deduct your contribution.
Donate Car For Charity Tip: Before telling yourself, "It's time to donate my car", make sure that the car donation program to which you wish to give is a qualified, eligible car donation charity. If it is not a qualified organization, donating cars to them may not be tax deductible. Donors can use the IRS web site to check whether an organization is qualified: search Publication 78, an annual list of most organizations that are qualified to receive deductible charitable contributions. You can also find Publication 78 in many public libraries. Or, if you prefer, you can call IRS Tax Exempt/Government Entities Customer Service at 1-877-829-5500 and ask if the charity is qualified. Be sure to have the organization's correct name and its headquarters location, if possible.
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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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Ocean Foundation Seeks Boat Donations
Donate Car For Charity Tip: If you donate a boat, the vessel may be used for dolphin or whale research or as an ocean-based classroom. Some nonprofit marine institutes use boat donations to further their causes, like The Ocean Conservation Society, which accepts boat donations to further its mission of helping preserve the world's oceans and marine life. The California-based charity is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that operates the Los Angeles Dolphin Project and makes presentations on ocean conservation to California schoolchildren. Changes in tax laws in 2005 limit the deduction that a donor can make for vehicle donations that are resold by charities, but the Ocean Conservation Society may keep and use boat donations. This kind of direct charitable use may entitle the boat donor to claim a tax deduction for fair market value.
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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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Expect Helpful Service From Charities Seeking Car Donations
Donate Car For Charity Tip: For some people, their car is their most valuable possession. Deciding to donate a car to charity is not an easy step. So you want a charity that provides the best car donation services. Here are services to ask for, and expect, from charities: -- Many charities will send a driver or tow truck to pick up your unwanted vehicle, or they will have a drop off location in a convenient area. -- If your car doesn't run, ask for free towing to remove the car from your property. Your only responsibility is to have the tires inflated. -- Get tax forms from the charity acknowledging your gift and its value at resale. You should receive this acknowledgement within 30 days of the sale. -- Find application forms online for many charities that have car donation programs. -- Some charities offer free hotel vouchers as an incentive for giving your used vehicle to their charity.
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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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Pick a Car Donation Program That Helps the Needy
Donate Car For Charity Tip: There are so many solicitations by car charities for donations that it may be difficult to decide which to choose. It is a good idea to do some research first, and follow the advice of respected organizations that monitor charitable giving. The American Institute of Philanthropy supports the practice of automobile donations, especially to charities that will use the vehicles in their programs. These services may be transporting people with disabilities to doctors' appointments, helping parents on welfare get to work, or delivering supplies and food to the needy. The American Institute of Philanthropy notes that when a charity uses an automobile donation, rather than reselling the car at a reduced price, the organization is getting the full value of the donation. The United Way, which represents many community-based organizations, is a good resource to contact when donating cars. The organization can point donors to community-based charities that offer automobile donation programs.
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