How a Charitable Organization’s Car Donation Program Affects Your Tax Deduction
Prior to 2005, the ultimate use of a charitable organization’s car donation program had very little to do with how much you could expect to receive as a tax deduction. In fact, many for-profit organizations used the lure of deep (and often totally out of line) deductions to lure donors into supporting a charitable organization.
Car donation proved very lucrative as a type of revenue for many third-party agencies that facilitated vehicular donations for various charitable organizations. Car donation today still represents a good deal for both the charity or non-profit organization (NPO). By dealing directly with charities that have an actual use for what you’re offering in the form of actual transportation.
On the other hand, many charitable organizations for car donation that specialize in such gifts, have traditionally used wholesale sales yards and demolition services to get rid of cars as quickly as possible. This is especially true of automobiles that require some work to get them in top running (and selling) condition. In this case, you are only able to claim the sale amount, no matter how low, as your itemized deduction.
Just like a house, the more work you put into upkeep, the higher the inherent value when it comes time to sell. You not only get to enjoy the benefits of the work as well as the often time surprisingly high sale value that even a small improvement job can guarantee. It is the same when giving to a charitable organization. Car donations, when properly repaired and cared for, can give an auto a new lease on life that may last for years.
Of course, as far as the needy populations of a community are concerned in this day and age, the better mileage the car gets, the more likely it is to be useful to those who need donated cars to commute to work from a fair distance. Those who are needing transport for children over relatively short distances will appreciate vehicles with extra room.
If you want to find out what sort of vehicles are in demand in your community, there’s no substitute for directly contacting the charitable organization in question. Car donations of running automobiles, suited to your local population, are the most likely to be used rather than sold for the cash.
Even cars that are fixed up to be sold may wind up being sold at auctions that undermine the sale value of your car. While you can make a case for why you should be granted extra deduction monies that more closely reflect the fair market value of the vehicle, it may behoove you to take the lower deduction amount to avoid an unpleasant audit that could result in loosing your deduction entirely. Sometimes it’s best to err on the side of caution.
Of course, your tax preparation professional will be able to advise you regarding such finer points of tax strategy. Generally speaking, however, cars that are repaired for auction are sold to the highest rather than lowest bidder. You have every right to inquire after he proposed use of any car you plan on giving to a charitable organization. Car donation is now so dependent upon the ultimate use of that car, that even if you don’t care how the charity in question uses your gift, you have to appreciate the benefit of how a efficient use of an old car can result in the highest possible deduction benefit to you as a donor.
You may want to seriously consider narrowing your search to locally run charitable organizations. Car donation to such charities and NPOs that have a mission involving automobiles has a better tendency to deliver the maximum possible deduction allowed under law.
Often this means that your car not be too far gone or require very expensive parts to make it run reliably or have any major conditions that prevent it from being registered in your state. However, if your automobile meets the criteria of your local charitable organization, car donation may be an excellent option, no matter what tax bracket you occupy.
Purple Heart Car Donation Program – Giving To The Veterans
If you have a vehicle you do not want you could donate it to the Purple Heart Car Donation Program. Especially in a time of apparently unending war, it is easy to make the case that every American owes a veteran and most especially those who’ve been injured in the line of duty.
You could make the argument that programs such as the Purple Heart Car Donation Program are necessary because federal officials aren’t doing a very good job of taking care of the veterans that it keeps pledging to do a better job of fixing up. However, veterans groups have rarely felt very well taken care of, so the need for charitable programs has always been a part of veteran life.
Given how the cost of insurance (that veterans are not automatically entitled to) keeps going up for veterans and everyone else, it’s no wonder that there is so much work to be done by the Purple Heart Car Donation Program and other veterans’ groups. Indeed, the amount of money paid for the demonstrably sub-standard care given at some Veterans’ Administration (VA) hospitals, has been something of a national scandal since the first Gulf War in the early 1990s.
The Purple Heart Car Donation Program differs from many programs in that it doesn’t necessarily just sell your vehicle on the open, wholesale market as many online donation services do. In this case, they run their own, non-profit pick up, delivery and repair services. Also, unlike many other services, you’re allowed to drive your running car up to their offices for donation.
There are many good, charitable outreach missions supported by proceeds generated from the Purple Heart Car Donation Program. For instance, some of the better cars are used to assist veterans in getting to their medical appointments. Sometimes monies are used to help families get on their feet during war time, or to even help purchase a prosthetic limb better than the most basic models that are covered by veterans’ insurance, despite the high fees charged for such coverage.
That organizations such as the Purple Heart Car Donation Program are even necessary is a surprise to many who have, perhaps rightly, assumed that the federal government was indebted to soldiers wounded in the line of duty. However, the sad fact is that once a medal has been awarded, injuries that may have changed a soldier’s entire way of life are not considered the government’s problem once the soldier has been discharged.
Consider the recent increases in massive head injuries during the second Gulf Wars. Though bake sales and fund raisers across the country have been trying to send after-market head protection to soldiers serving, it would seem that money that should be spent keeping people safe is being diverted. The Purple Heart Car Donation Program isn’t currently sending body armor to Iraq and Afghanistan, it does support medical testing and helping veterans afford their medications.
That said, the prognosis for those with brain injuries isn’t very good. For this reason, charities such as Purple Heart Car Donation Program have been stepping in and giving the young spouses of severely injured veterans the skills to help care for them when the VA can’t.
It is also notable that though the current Gulf Wars have not had a very high mortality rate, by the usual accounting, the flip side of that is a very high proportion of troops that have been injured in the line of duty – many of them to be sent back into action. Though the Purple Heart Car Donation Program is only a drop in this bucket, the lives it has touched have keenly felt its presence.
