How to Donate your Vehicle to Charity for a Tax Credit

Donating your car in is great thing to do. You achieve two things by donating your car. One, you get a tax write off and two you help someone less fortunate than yourself to buy and good car at an affordable price.

Donated vehicles are repaired, fine tuned and sold to help single Mom’s returning to work, lower income families getting back on their feet and veterans. There is no price gouging and the person purchasing the car are allowed to make affordable payments, so that they can purchase a car without a large car note.

When you donate your car in New York you are doing someone a great service to someone who may not be able to purchase a vehicle any other way. Know that tax laws are always changing so contact the IRS to find out current tax laws in your state concerning tax write offs for donations.

Calculate the market value of your car using Kelly Blue Book or Edmonds, which are usually very reliable resources.

Also consider how much you would ask for the car if you sold it personally. New York’s’ tax system is about 7%. You will use these calculations when reporting your donations to the IRS.

The car you donate does not have to be show room new, now does it have to be in working order. Charities who receive car donations, have their own talented mechanics that can make necessary repairs.

Charities try to make donating your car as simple as possible. Go to the site or call the charity to find out the process and what type of documentation you will need.

New York uses the organization, Donate for Charity, as their clearing house so give them a call to get more information or find out what organization your charity uses as their clearing house for car donations.

Vehicles valued over $5,000 require profession appraisal before he donation can be made. This appraisal is done by the organization or clearing house as you are the one giving you car to charity. Make sure the organization you donate your car to is licensed and registered with the IRS or you will not receive a deduction for your donation.

Make a list of your favorite charities, research their donation process and how their donations are used.

You will want to use a charity that gives a minimum of 70 -75% of its programs income back into the car donation program, rather than to operational costs.

To determine what portion of you donation a charity donates to the cause go to CharityNaigator.org or GuidStar.org. These organizations do all the work for you, by evaluating and rating charities.

There are several well know and responsible charities that accept cars, so do a little research to find one you are comfortable donating your car to. Goodwill Industries, is one well known charity that received cars and refurbishes them to sell to participants of the Cars for Work program. You can go in person on go online and fill out a donation application.

Once your have decided what charity you will be using, all your paper work is filled out and signed, and you have proven ownership of the car you are just about done. Now you have only to, sign over your car title and keys to your charity.

Don’t forget to get a receipt and make sure it indicates the value of your donation. Bring the car to the charity or tell them where they can pick up the car if it is not running.