Work Life Tips

Donate Car For Charity Tip: When claiming a car donation tax deduction, the IRS lets taxpayers use the vehicle’s fair market value, provided certain conditions are met. Taxpayers may want to consult an accountant on car donation IRS rules before claiming a car donation at fair market value. The IRS offers the following guidelines:
* It may allow a tax deduction for the car’s fair market value if the recipient organization “makes significant intervening use of the vehicle,” or if the recipient makes major improvements to the vehicle.
* The IRS may accept a deduction of fair market value, if the charitable organization gives away the car for free, or sells it at a much lower price, to help “the poor and distressed or underprivileged.”
* Finally, the IRS may accept a car donation tax deduction for fair market value if the claimed deduction is $500 or less.
The IRS offers guidance in determining whether you can deduct a car’s fair market value when making a car donation to a charity. Call, toll free, 1-800-TAX-FORM, or go online to IRS.gov, then click on the link for Publication 526, “Charitable Deductions.”

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.

Donate Car For Charity Tip: So you are interested in donating your car? Perhaps you start online and type “donate car” into a search engine. Millions of search results come back – how do you know if a charity is legitimate?

As part of vetting a charity to which you wish to make a vehicle donation, you can and should review the car donation organization’s state registration and financial filings. These documents are commonly filed with a state charity regulator, such as the State Attorney General’s Office or the Secretary of State’s Office. Donors can use these records to find out how long a charity has been in existence, and to compare the percentage of revenue the charity spends on its charitable programs to the percentage it spends on administrative costs. This is an important number, as it can help show how effective the charity is at what it does, and how much of the proceeds of your car donation will go to actual charitable programs, and how much goes to overhead.

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.

Donate Car For Charity Tip: Car donations San Diego are subject to the same policies and procedures as car donations throughout California. Donate a Car for Charity, part of the Family Care Foundation (FCF), an IRS-registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization offers free, quick and easy vehicle pick-up throughout San Diego County, including greater San Diego, La Jolla, Miramar, Del Mar, Rancho Bernardo, Encinitas, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, Rancho San Diego, El Cajon, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, National City, South Bay, Eastlake, Vista, San Marcos, Valley Center, Escondido, Poway, Fallbrook, Lakeside, Julian, Ramona, Alpine, Campo, Borrego, Santee, Warner Springs, and all of East County.

Donate Car For Charity Tip: Car donation facilities exist throughout California. Vehicles donated in California to a non-profit classified with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization are deductible from your federal income taxes. In most cases, the state of California requires that the donor present the charity or donation program with the title of the vehicle. If you do not have title papers, you can still complete a California car donation by filling out the application for duplicate title form and by requesting a Registration History printout from the DMV. Visit the California Department of Motor Vehicles web site to obtain the necessary forms before donating a vehicle. The California DMV requires you as a donor to mail in the “Release of Liability” form that is attached to your title on the day that the car donation is processed and the vehicle is picked up by the donation service’s agent. If you do not have a “Release of Liability” form, you can download one from the California DMV web site.

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.