Car Donation Tax Updates

Car Donation Tax Deductions

May 17, 2008

More often than not people or families wind up having an extra car. Sometimes it’s used as a backup vehicle, for trips, or even storage. But many times it winds up just sitting there; and sitting vehicles cost more than you’d think. You must pay for insurance and keep the car registered. This easily adds up over the time and becomes a money pit.

There is a solution however, and it doesn’t involve any work or effort on your part. No putting ads in papers & magazines, having strangers call you at home during all hours of the night, none of that. Instead just donate your car!

All you have to do is fill out an online donation form and then the towing facility will call you to coordinate the pickup of your car.

However, fast and easy disposal of your vehicle is only the beginning; the greatest advantage of donating your vehicle is the tax deduction benefit available to you.

It is Important that you make sure the charity is a registered 501(c)(3) charity, in order for you to receive a tax deduction from them. Otherwise you can receive no tax deduction for your car donation. Also you must make sure that you yourself are able to do tax deductions on your tax return.

A savvy donor will always keep an eye out for false or misleading claims. Classic examples are: “Full fair market value deduction”, “Free vacation with tax deduction” and many others. For those that get a ‘free vacation’ with their tax deduction the result is that ‘free vacation’ is deducted from the donation they gave, thus subtracting that from the amount they can deduct on their taxes.

The last thing you want is to get cheated out of your tax deduction or even worse, get audited by the IRS and find out the charity mislead you on how much you could deduct.

But don’t let this deter you from making a charitable car donation, as long as a donor does his home work and donates to legitimate charities he has nothing to fear. A stellar example of a legitimate registered charity that follows IRS regulations and doesn’t mislead donors is the Givecars.com Teddy Bear Cops Car Donation Program. To see for yourself read testimonials from donors, and thank you letters from emergency officials.