Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Charitable Donations of Automobiles

The July 30th. issue of RIA's Tax-exempt Organizations reports that the IRS has posted two new publications on its website; a donor's guide to car donations, and a charity's guide to car donations.

RIA makes the observation that "the issuance of these new publications, which make no reference to pending legislation, seems ill-timed since both the Senate and House have passed versions of the 2004 JOBS Act which would retroactively add more restrictive rules on charitable contributions of motor vehicles.

"In annoucing the release of the publications IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said,
'Supporting charitable activities through tax dedutible contributions is an important element of tax law and serves the national interest. But we encourage people to proceed carefully when donating vehicles. There are instances where the donations may provide little benefit to the charity.'"

"The Charity's Guide to Car Donations" is available online at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4302.pdf.

"The Donor's Guide to Car Donations" may be obtained at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4303.pdf.

A general "Tax Information for Charities & Other Non-Profits" is available on IRS's website at http://www.irs.gov/charities/index.html.




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