By Helen Hecker
Look around the yard, do you have an old car you want to or should get rid of? Is the car just taking up precious space and slowly deteriorating from lack of maintenance and proper care because you don't need it? Then for you a charitable car donation may be worth more than using the car as a trade-in or in any other way. If you decide to donate a car and the car donation is accepted, the charity arranges for and takes care of any towing expenses and provides you with the necessary documents for your tax return.
Donating a car eliminates the expense of any advertising, the loss of privacy and possible security risk from potential buyers. No need to pay for annual vehicle registration and/or emissions testing or insurance, and no need for any repairs to keep your car in running condition while you wait for a buyer. It's easy, just fill out the forms the charity gives you and have them ready for the driver when he comes to pick up the car. A large chunk of your donation money when it's received by the charity after they sell the vehicle, should not taken out for administrative fees or investments. Make sure to find out how much of your donation money goes for these fees.
Your car, truck, RV, boat, aircraft or other vehicle is usually marketed by the charity through various means including their own car lots and middlemen and sold to a buyer who is in need of a good used vehicle. If you're thinking about donating your automobile to charity, be sure to check out thoroughly the charity or car donation program that handles the donation. Certain commercial firms and trade organizations publish guides known as 'blue books,' that state the average resale prices based on the model and year of your vehicle. You can find these blue books at your library in the reference section or online.
If your auto, truck, boat, motorcycle, RV or other vehicle is no longer of use to you, it can still go a long way toward helping support a reputable charity of your choice. Best of all, by not selling the car yourself, you don't have to worry or wonder about total strangers calling you and getting information about where you live, or coming to your house to see the car or other vehicle.
Charities don't need to send you a form for cars that eventually sell for less than $500, but you'll still be able to deduct up to $500 on your tax return.
If it's necessary to go through a car donation program middleman, which you can find online, find out what percentage of your donation will go to charity and shop around for the best deal. There are a quite a few of them online.
As for your benefits, you as the donor of the car benefits by receiving a tax receipt for the highest possible value of the vehicle.
Make sure you have easy access to the title of the vehicle. If you have an unused vehicle just sitting around, you never know when a storm might cause damage to your vehicle or if it might get vandalized or if it's on the street get involved in an accident. Some charities that run their own program, instead of hiring a program middleman, are discriminating about which vehicles they will accept, repair and materially improve. They sell most of their vehicles at retail prices. One thing to note, your vehicle must have all four of its tires inflated to be accepted.
Important, one of the exceptions to the new IRS tax regulations allows donors to still deduct the fair market value of their vehicle, provided the charity materially improves the vehicle. Charities usually provide you with a release of liability when they take your vehicle away. After the car sells, they send you a tax-deduction form that explains how much they received for your car.
Charities look at car donations from both the point of view of the donor of the car and of themselves. You can get a car donation tax deduction up to the maximum limits allowed by the IRS. You may also donate your car online to individual charities or through the car donation programs, some of which contract with charities.
It used to be that you could deduct the fair market value of the vehicle at the time of the deduction - but not anymore. In wear and tear, minor repairs and breakdowns, an average vehicle owner might spend more than $3000 per year so a good reason not to keep the extra car around. In the end the donor is responsible to an extent to ascertain the value of their car after discussing it with the charity.
A charity car donation is becoming more common as people discover the nice tax deduction that is available. Choosing the best charity for your car can be overwhelming and you want to make sure your choice is the best and right choice for you. Why not donate your car, truck, boat, RV, motorcycle or even aircraft today and enjoy a nice tax deduction on your annual income tax return.
For more info on choosing the best charity car donation, car donation program, used car donation or charitable car donation online and offline go to http://www.Car-Donation-Info.com for charity and tax deduction tips, help, facts, reviews, including information on all types of car donation
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Car-Donation---Get-The-Facts-First-Before-You-Donate-A-Car&id=829563] Car Donation - Get The Facts First Before You Donate A Car
Monday, September 13, 2010
Car Donations and Charitable Donations
By Michael Rad
The modern society, with its distinct wealth-based classes has always prided itself with a strong inclination to charity. From fundraising events to church donations, charity has become a way for helping others but also a way to get rid of some taxes. The tax benefit one gets from donating for charity is roughly proportional to the value of the donation of course. Lately, a new "charity trend" has formed, especially in the United States and Western/Central Europe, that of the car donation.
Car donations are practically give-aways of no longer wanted or heavily used cars, to charity organizations, individuals, companies or even institutions. In the United States, the tax benefit from such car donations is among the highest you can get from donations; hence the practice of giving away your old car when you buy a new one has become very popular. Usually, the charity organization you will donate your car too will evaluate it and set an estimative value for it, which will determine this tax reduction. For values that are under $500, the value of this reduction is set by the donor's own estimate of the car's value. Deductions for donations over this amount are usually limited by the selling price of the vehicle. The vehicles are either sold in auctions or through direct marketing.
Although the car donation program is a solid one in theory, it has been speculated that it could soon become a "tax shelter". Since this could not be proven so far, car donations have steadily grown to a number of almost 1 million per year. This means that almost 1 million tax payers have reduced their taxes with sums of up to $600-$700 million each year, only through this type of car donation.
From a charity organization's point of view, the car donation program is one of the best fields to work with. Actually, it has come to a point where such non-profit organizations actually rely on car donations to keep their charity events possible. Some of them have their own car lots for donated cars and process them directly, while others rely on ads, auto auction companies and so forth. What most charity organization will do is take the donated car, sell it through the auction company and then distribute the money to local charity organizations, or further donates the money to a charity that the donor of the car indicated.
It is important to understand that the charity organizations selling donated cars don't get a profit from it, they only take a small quota of the sum to cover up their expenses. A trustworthy car donation charity organization will bring other charities and institutions a lot of money each year, genuinely helping them out. This said, it is expected that the car donation phenomenon will constantly rise with each year, if the same tax reduction laws are applied further on. Given the fact that it's one of the most solid and popular types of donations today, it's very unlikely that these reductions will be hindered by government in any way.
More resources on how to make a successful charity car donation [http://www.cardonationexpert.com/index.php] can be found on our website: CarDonationExpert.com
Here are a few other websites you might be interested in: [http://www.expert-dog-training.com/sitemap.php]Expert dog training and [http://www.all-car-photos.com/index.php]free car photos and wallpapers
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Car-Donations-and-Charitable-Donations&id=317976] Car Donations and Charitable Donations
The modern society, with its distinct wealth-based classes has always prided itself with a strong inclination to charity. From fundraising events to church donations, charity has become a way for helping others but also a way to get rid of some taxes. The tax benefit one gets from donating for charity is roughly proportional to the value of the donation of course. Lately, a new "charity trend" has formed, especially in the United States and Western/Central Europe, that of the car donation.
Car donations are practically give-aways of no longer wanted or heavily used cars, to charity organizations, individuals, companies or even institutions. In the United States, the tax benefit from such car donations is among the highest you can get from donations; hence the practice of giving away your old car when you buy a new one has become very popular. Usually, the charity organization you will donate your car too will evaluate it and set an estimative value for it, which will determine this tax reduction. For values that are under $500, the value of this reduction is set by the donor's own estimate of the car's value. Deductions for donations over this amount are usually limited by the selling price of the vehicle. The vehicles are either sold in auctions or through direct marketing.
Although the car donation program is a solid one in theory, it has been speculated that it could soon become a "tax shelter". Since this could not be proven so far, car donations have steadily grown to a number of almost 1 million per year. This means that almost 1 million tax payers have reduced their taxes with sums of up to $600-$700 million each year, only through this type of car donation.
From a charity organization's point of view, the car donation program is one of the best fields to work with. Actually, it has come to a point where such non-profit organizations actually rely on car donations to keep their charity events possible. Some of them have their own car lots for donated cars and process them directly, while others rely on ads, auto auction companies and so forth. What most charity organization will do is take the donated car, sell it through the auction company and then distribute the money to local charity organizations, or further donates the money to a charity that the donor of the car indicated.
It is important to understand that the charity organizations selling donated cars don't get a profit from it, they only take a small quota of the sum to cover up their expenses. A trustworthy car donation charity organization will bring other charities and institutions a lot of money each year, genuinely helping them out. This said, it is expected that the car donation phenomenon will constantly rise with each year, if the same tax reduction laws are applied further on. Given the fact that it's one of the most solid and popular types of donations today, it's very unlikely that these reductions will be hindered by government in any way.
More resources on how to make a successful charity car donation [http://www.cardonationexpert.com/index.php] can be found on our website: CarDonationExpert.com
Here are a few other websites you might be interested in: [http://www.expert-dog-training.com/sitemap.php]Expert dog training and [http://www.all-car-photos.com/index.php]free car photos and wallpapers
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Car-Donations-and-Charitable-Donations&id=317976] Car Donations and Charitable Donations
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