Phil Marti wrote:

- quote -

the latest simplification act: !!!!!

Smile, when you say that , pardner!

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA
smiling and rubbing his hands together
Sat, 23 Oct 2004 21:37:56

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- quote -

No, it limits the deduction to the amount the charity
receives for it, regardless of FMV. (This doesn't apply
if the charity uses the car in its operations.) It's
section 884 of the latest simplification act:
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/...eptlegtext.pdf

Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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Dick Weaver wrote:
- quote -

If the charity sells the donated vehicle without any
"significant intervening use or material improvement of such
vehicle by the organization," the deduction is limited to
the lesser of FMV or the amount received by the charity.
Effective for donations made after 12/31/04.

See Section 884 of the tax act.

--
Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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Rick Weaver <rweaver[at]ix.netcom.com> wrote:
- quote -

The change will hurt legitimate valuations also. The
charities dispose of these vehicles as quickly and easily as
possible. Putting them on a used car lot or in the paper
would often (as long as it isn't really a clunker) result in
a higher sales price. That said, I think Congress has only
chipped around the fringes of the fraud that occurs in
noncash contributions.

--
Drew Edmundson, CPA (NC)

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William Brenner wrote:

- quote -

I thought there was no change in its deductability; the
change is only in how easy, or not, it is to inflate (the
kindest word I can think of) its value.

dick w

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Oops! There was supposed to be a link to a news story
included.

I don't remember from where the article came, but the gist
was that, beginning January 1, 2005, one will no longer be
able to take as a charitable deduction the retail FMV of a
donated used automobile.

Instead, one will be allowed to deduct only the "auction"
value, which is what a used car wholesaler would pay to the
donee charity. An auto with a FMV of $800 might have an
auction value of just $300.

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A donated automobile loses much of its deductibility
January 1.

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