Often times a person has a vehicle that is a good candidate to give away as a donation. But due to time constraints that prevent that person from asking around for a needy individual in the community, as well as making repairs to the car so it will be useful as a donation, it becomes an impossible task to give a car away as a donation. Recognized by the IRS and charitable organizations, an authorized vehicle donation center will be able to take car of your vehicle. They will be able to give you a receipt for your taxes and find the best and most charitable use for your car

But how can you tell if the supposedly authorized vehicle donation center is going to take your car and use it for charitable purposes as they claim they will. You will have to pay attention to several signs, especially if you have gone on-line to look for such a service or you are responding to a solicitation via the mail. Several signs will tell you if you are dealing with a non-authorized vehicle donation center.

A quick check with even one or two of the charitable organizations (preferably ones you’ve heard of before) should yield an acknowledgement of the authorized vehicle donation center’s association as an agent of that charity. Any legitimately authorized vehicle donation center will be able to provide you with a list of charities it brokers deals for.

Though very few authorized vehicle donation centers are registered with the IRS as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, the charity you donate to must be. Without this seal of approval from the tax authorities, you’ll not be allowed to legally take the deduction. Even worse, this can set you up for an audit and no one wants to mess with that kind of attention. A truly authorized vehicle donation center will be able to provide you with their tax ID number so you may check it on the IRS website.

Several states additionally certify authorized vehicle donation centers on their own. If your state is one of these, you can easily check with the state attorney general’s office to see if the donation center you are considering is listed on the state non-profit rolls. If not, you may not be dealing with an authorized vehicle donation center at all.

The authorized vehicle donation center is most often, in fact, over 95% of the time, a for-profit venture. The donation center must follow certain rules of conduct with regards to how you may be enticed into vehicle donation. There will also be a register of organizations that are not allowed to do business in the state, which you can look at.

One very important function of an authorized vehicle donation center is helping you determine a fair donation value for your donated car, truck, boat or RV to be reported to the IRS. This is not the so-called “blue book” value but, instead, its value on the market. Bear in mind, this market may be wholesale rather than retail.

Most often, the value you’ll be given a receipt for is the value the charity ultimately receives for the car. If you don’t receive a receipt suitable for tax purposes right away, that’s o.k., but if you’ve not heard anything in a few months, you should start making phone calls to the authorized vehicle donation center’s offices. If the car is being repaired before sale, it could take awhile, though even authorized vehicle donation centers very rarely do that, preferring the wholesale and scrap methods.  This is especially true in the case of vehicles that are not currently running. However, there is still money to be made, and most legitimate and authorized vehicle donation centers will be happy to come and haul your old car, truck or boat away for free. You should be suspicious of any supposedly authorized vehicle donation center that requires you to pay for towing services.

If the fair value of your car is less than $250, there is no reason to bother with a donation form from your chosen charity or a third-party organization such as an authorized vehicle donation center. However, over that amount, you’ll need a receipt in writing. If more than $5,000 is received for your vehicle, it will require an additional form (Form 8283, section B) to be signed by a representative of the authorized vehicle donation center in question and an independent appraisal as well.

Though there are certainly charlatans out there who would take advantage of charitable giving to line their own pockets, the IRS and state governments take this very seriously. The state Attorney General’s office will have a list of known scammers to avoid. Once you know the authorized vehicle donation center you’ve chosen is on the up and up, you can donate with peace of mind.

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Tags: Vehicle Donation Advice, vehicle donation center

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at 2:00 am and is filed under Vehicle Donation Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.