Donate Auto Tax Deduction Information
automobile donation tax information

Truth is not everyone is eligible for a tax deduction when they donate an auto. This site provides actual information and references to assist the automobile donation process.

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Basic Information About Tax Deduction

This webpage is to assist those that do not know much about tax deduction information.

If you know little about filing income tax then this page might assist you to better understand the tax deduction process.

If you do not prepare your own taxes then you can probably rather easily find out if you qualify for a tax deduction by contacting the person that does prepare your taxes.

NOTE: The following general overview is not an attempt to give you tax advice nor an attempt to professionally assist you in your personal tax preparation.

The purpose here is to just give an overview in layman's terms about how a tax deduction works for an automobile donation and who might qualify.

References to the IRS forms mentioned on this page are available in other parts of this site.

Who qualifies for a tax deduction?

Basically to qualify for a tax deduction you at least have to itemize deductions.

When you prepare your taxes it is done on a tax form called the 1040 Form.

IRS 1040 Form

There are different versions of this form. Some are short and some are long.

If you always use the short form and your tax situation has not changed much then you are likely NOT in a position to get a tax benefit from an automobile donation.

However you still would be helping others and you will still rid yourself of the auto problems and you can still receive other benefits.

You can ask yourself: Why make an auto donation?

Find out about the differences between making an auto donation and using the recycling program.

Find out why you might choose to use the automobile recycling program.

Qualifying for a tax deduction...

Itemize Deductions

To qualify for a tax deduction you have to file the IRS 1040 Long Form and you have to Itemize Deductions.

Standard Deduction

The IRS already provides each tax payer a predetermined (standard) deduction for yourself and your dependents (such as a spouse or children below a certain age).

Some people have other deductions, like a house mortgage interest and they file a Schedule A with their 1040 Long Form.

On the Schedule A they list out the total amounts they paid in that year for...

• medical and dental expenses
• certain taxes paid
• certain types of interest paid, like home mortgage
• gifts to charity
• unreimbursed employee expenses
• tax preparation fees
• other deductible expenses.

If these amount to more than their "standard deduction(s)" then they benefit by "itemizing" their deductions.

That is basically how it works.

We hope this has been of some assistance.

Visit the rest of this site for all of the other tax deduction information including the actual references to the IRS website.