Guidelines to File Tax Deductions for Car Donation New Jersey

Posted by Erick Miller
1
Jan 6, 2016
189 Views
You must have heard ‘Donate your car and get a tax break’ many times. This is very true but many people are still not aware of this benefit that they can get by donating a car to a charitable organization. Along with helping an underprivileged child or supporting a cause, you can get financial benefits against your good deeds. But many times, people donate a car New Jersey just to find that their tax break is much lower than what they actually expected. This is because car donations have become much more complicated now.

You need to be aware of all the formalities to get the best benefits. Tax deductions for car donation New Jersey is very similar to any other gift to charity, which means you need to have all the accurate paperwork before filing for the tax deduction. However, tax deduction for car donations are a bit complicated due to the fact that the value of the car will determine the form that has to be filled with the IRS and the value of the car might vary.

Filing Tax Deduction for Car Donation  

When filing for your car donation New Jersey, you need to itemize all the deductions for your charitable gift donations that are to be counted. For this you need an acknowledgment from the charity that describes your gift. This acknowledgment is to be filed with the U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

In order to complete your application, you need to provide the following details:

  • Name and address of the charity that accepted your donation
  • Date of donating your car
  • Place where you donated the car
  • A detailed description of the car that you donated

Determine the Correct Value to Get the Best Benefits

As mentioned earlier, the amount of tax deduction depends on the valuation of the car, so it is very important for the donor to determine the right value of the car being donated. In technical words, the amount of deduction depends on whether the charity sells the car for gross proceeds or uses it for some other purpose. If it uses the donated car for some other purpose you have to take into account the fair market value. 

So what are ‘gross proceeds’ and ‘fair market value’?

Gross Proceeds

When people donate your car, in most cases, the charities sell it to earn some money. So the value of the donated car is the ‘gross proceeds’ that the charity receives by selling your car. This is the amount that will be included in the acknowledgment provided to you by the charity and this will be the amount of your deduction. 

Fair Market Value

If the charity does not sell the car and uses it for some other purposes like:

  • The charity uses the car themselves
  • The charity plans to make improvements to the donated car
  • The charity sells or gives the car to a needy family or individual at a lower value than the fair market value.

In such cases, the amount of the deduction will equal to the fair market value of the car. 

So whenever you donate a car New Jersey, make sure you know how the charity uses your donated car and have a fair idea of the value of the car to get the maximum tax benefits. 
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