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I have a time-share week at Daytona beach that I would like to donate to my church for use by my Pastor or one of the Pastorial staff. How do I go about get an assessed value in writing and make the donation. The reason: I would like to use it as a tax deduction on my taxes next year. I have looked on the internet for time share weeks for the same date/location and length of time and they range anywhere from $800 to $1,000. Can I even do this?
The answer is YES, you can donate your timeshare. I realize this may be a little old since you posted in March and it's now October, but the information is still good for others.
The first thing is that anyone who accepts the donation also accepts to liability for paying the ongoing ownership fees. Do you want to saddle your church with those fees? Maybe it would be better to have them use it, pay the fees and consider that your donation while keeping it in your name. That is if you aren't just wanting to unload it.
If you just want to get out of it, there are two ways to donate it. The vast majority of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have you keep title and pay all the fees until they sell it to a third party. Then they take title, sell it, keep the cash received and give you donation credit. Unfortunately, the IRS states that what they sold it for is the donation credit you can take, not your original purchase price since it was actually sold for less.
The only way to get around this limitation is to find a NPO that will take title, keep it for a minimum of 36 months and give you the opportunity to get an appraisal for it's worth and deduct that instead. There is one NPO that does that at CommunityHealthTraining/Timeshares/
I hope this helps others in the same situation you're in.
Dear Dr. Ken Rich[/quote]
[drkenrich]-Thank you for your answer but I must have not made myself clear. I do not want to get rid of my timeshare only to donate the week that have for the year for use by my Pastor and his family. My question is: Can I deduct the condo fees I paid that year on my taxes as a legitimate deduction if I get a statement which has the value of the “one week” that I am donating? Thank you for you help.
I think this could be problematic. You can not donate anything to an individual and claim it as charity. Here you can not donate the week's use of your timeshare to the pastor, as that would be considered a gift to an individual, not to the church. What you can do is donate the week's use of the timeshare to the church, but then the church would have to turn around and sell it on the open market. Under those conditions I think you would have a legitimate charitable deduction, equal to the price the church is able to get when they sell it. They would then give you a receipt stating the value of your charitable donation.
I think this could be problematic. You can not donate anything to an individual and claim it as charity. Here you can not donate the week's use of your timeshare to the pastor, as that would be considered a gift to an individual, not to the church. What you can do is donate the week's use of the timeshare to the church, but then the church would have to turn around and sell it on the open market. Under those conditions I think you would have a legitimate charitable deduction, equal to the price the church is able to get when they sell it. They would then give you a receipt stating the value of your charitable donation.
Ebaines: Your answer is most helpful. So, if I would offer my timeshare "week" at our yearly church auction to raise money for the church and they auction it off to someone, I could then deduct the fees?
Ebaines: Your answer is most helpful. So, if I would offer my timeshare "week" at our yearly church auction to raise money for the church and they auction it off to someone, I could then deduct the fees?
The IRS allows you to deduct expenses associated with donating an item - for example if you shipped an item to the charity you could deduct the shipping cost. Now, I am no tax professional, so perhaps you should get advice from someone who does this for a living, but in my opinion I don't think annual fees like this are a cost you incur in order to make the deduction. Hence I think all you can deduct is the the fair market value of the donation, (which in this case would be the amount they sell it for at auction). If it's over $250 you will need written receipt from the church. Also, be aware that if the value of the donation is greater than $5K, you will need a written appraisal of its market value.
The IRS allows you to deduct expenses associated with donating an item - for example if you shipped an item to the charity you could deduct the shipping cost. Now, I am no tax professional, so perhaps you should get advice from someone who does this for a living, but in my opinion I don't think annual fees like this are a cost you incur in order to make the deduction. Hence I think all you can deduct is the the fair market value of the donation, (which in this case would be the amount they sell it for at auction). If it's over $250 you will need written receipt from the church. Also, be aware that if the value of the donation is greater than $5K, you will need a written appraisal of its market value.
Dear ebaines:
Thank you once again for your helpful advice. I will do as you say and look into it with my accountant now that I have an idea of what to ask him.
Just an FYI - a contribution of the right simply to use property, without charge, is a contribution of a partial interest and is, therefore, not deductible. This issue arises, for example, where the donor "donates" a week's use of a vacation home for a charity auction.
In Revenue Ruling 89-51, the IRS ruled that the right to use a vacation home for one week, donated by the owner of the home to a charitable fundraising auction and sold for fair rental value, constitutes the "right to use property and is not a deductible contribution."
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