• Home

Subscribe

Why Not Donate a Car to Charity?

If you have an old car you no longer use, you probably can’t get much for it. Who wants to go through the process of advertising a car and then dealing with all the sales hassles, the taxes, and the tags? Still, if the old car runs, it’s hard to part with and you don’t want to have to pay for someone to tow it away. There is an alternative.

Why not donate the car to charity? Here’s what you do.

Make certain that you have the title to your car. You will need to hand it over when donating the car. Before you make any other arrangements about the car, go and find the title. You need to have physical possession of that title at the time of your donation or the whole thing is mute. They won’t take a car without its title,

Now, you want to find a charity that will take your car. This is a whole lot easier than trying to find a buyer for that same old car. Get on-line and search for charities accepting automobile donations. Find the closest 501 (c) (3) designee. The charity will have this designation listed. If they don’t, just find one that does. Verify their status with the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Department. This just takes a few extra clicks.

Next, you will be asked to fill out an on-line application form.

Arrange to have the car taken away. Most car donation charities will come and get your old vehicle within about twenty-four or forty-eight hours. Get a verification receipt or number and print it off of your computer.

Claim your deduction by having the car donation charity do the paperwork for you. It generally takes about thirty days for this process to take place. Be sure to get some kind of interim receipt or acknowledgment in case there are any difficulties in receiving the finalized papers.

You should be able to claim full blue book value for your car, but no more. You will make the Internal Revenue Service way too curious if you try to get a deduction for the value of a Bentley. You just want a reasonable deduction for the value of the car you gave away, don’t get crazy. Running deductions too high is a red flag for a tax audit. You don’t want to cause yourself a problem, when you just solved one.

Your old car becomes suddenly a headache. You can’t use it, keep it or sell it with ease. Why not donate it to for a good cause? Chintamani Abhyankar provides useful advice.

Copyright © 2008 mancsuk.com | Blog Tips! -

- · Log in