Donating your vehicle to charity may not be a taxwise decision - Crawford Ellenbogen

Let’s say you’re buying a new car and want to get rid of your old one. You’ve heard ads claiming you can get a tax deduction for donating a car to charity. But this may not result in a big deduction — or any at all. It depends on whether you itemize and what the charity does with the vehicle. For cars worth more than $500, the deduction is the amount for which the charity sells the car. However, if a charity uses the car in its operations or materially improves it before selling, your deduction is based on the car’s fair market value at the time of donating. You also must itemize deductions. You can’t claim a deduction if you take the standard deduction. Contact us for more details.