Car Donation Programs - Look Before You Donate

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Hundreds of charities have begun to adopt car donation programs as a way to raise funds or to supply themselves with no-expense vehicles to support operate their programs. But rather than managing the auto donation programs themselves, they will sometimes turn to fundraising organizations to really manage the donation and auctioning of the vehicles. And that policy can mean a difficulty for you.

If you run an Online search on automobile donation programs, you will get hundreds of hits from fundraisers who claim that they will let you pick from amongst a group of charities to which the proceeds of your car's sale, of not the automobile itself, will go. And they will give you the paperwork you have to have to claim your car donation as a charitable deduction on your IRS return.

Taking Guidance From The IRS

But the IRS itself, in recent years, has turn out to be alarmed at the proliferation of car donation programs run by fundraisers which end up keeping the bulk of the proceeds they get for donated automobiles. The IRS recommends that it you are taking into consideration any of the vehicle donation programs, you get in touch with the individuals running it and get a clear answer as to regardless of whether they are charity officials, or private group acting for the charity.

If you locate that they are a private group running the car donation programs of numerous charities, come across out specifically what they program to do with the car you donate. Will the automobile be repaired and given to the charity to help in its work? Or do the fundraisers intend to auction the auto off and if so, how considerably of the proceeds will go to the fundraisers, and how much to the charity?

Auto donation programs which cannot, or will not, give you clear answers to these questions are not those on which you can depend to see that your ca, or the capital it brings gets, to the charity of your picking out. And if the charity does not directly get the car or its worth, you do not have the correct to claim the worth of the automobile as a deduction.

Legitimate programs greatly simplify the approach of connecting you with a charity which will benefit from your gift. But it is your responsibility to analysis the many car donation programs in you area and make certain that as significantly a doable of your car's value will be channeled to the charity, and that the charity itself is 1 recognized by the IRS. Otherwise, your nicely-intended auto donation could possibly turn into a large challenge at tax time, when you try to take an unwarranted deduction!