The Accountants’ Guide to Donating Your ’87 Fiat To Charity
We here at Double Taxation are big fans of what Kars4Kids — the charitable organization that transforms your piece of sh*t lightly used vehicleinto educational funding for children — is doing for the next generation. And we’re even bigger fans of that irresistibly irritatingjingle that burrows deep into the recesses of your brain like a wayward spider.
Yeah, that’s the one.
So when they reached out to us and asked us to pass alongsome information regarding the most efficient way taxpayers can donate their autos to Kars4Kids, we were happy to oblige.
Below is a link to Kars4Kids’ Guide to Car Donation. It’s authored by CPAs andfilled with helpful tipsin clear, concise language, such as the following:
Determining the vehicles value requires that you first determine what the charity did with the vehicle. There are different guidelines for vehicles that were sold by the charity, and for vehicles that were used by the charity.
The vehicle was sold by the charity:
1. If it sold for less than $500 the donor can deduct the smaller of either: $500, or the fair market value* of the vehicle at the time of the donation.
2. If it sold for more than $500 – Donor can deduct the gross proceeds of the sale.
The vehicle was used by the charity for the charities use:
If the charity took the vehicle with the intention of using it frequently for its regularly conducted activities, the donor can claim a deduction for the fair market value of the vehicle*.
