Charitable institutions exist to help our less fortunate and underprivileged brothers and sisters. Their charitable activities and day-to-day operations depend mostly on the resources and money that they could raise and receive as donations. They receive almost all kinds of donations, including car donations.

The practice of donating cars to charity has been there for quite some time but it was only recently when clear stipulations for car donation tax deduction were stipulated in the tax laws that were enacted in the recent years.

So if you are planning to buy a new car and you want to get rid of your old one, you can choose to donate it to charity rather than putting it up for sale, as selling it could be quite a hassle. Donating your car to a charity that is eligible for accepting car donations can give you a tax deduction in return.

If one donates a car to a charity, one does not only have the chance to avail of a tax write off; one can also help that charity in its mission to help the less fortunate. It is like hitting two birds with a single shot; one can help others while getting something for oneself.

It is very important to ascertain whether a charitable organization is eligible to accept such donations. One can only get a car donation tax deduction if the car is donated to the right charity and if the donor goes through the prescribed process as required by law.

A donor of car donations must ask the IRS for necessary documents to determine and validate the tax exempt status. The eligibility of the receiving charity must also be confirmed before any transaction should take place. If one donates a car to a charity that is not allowed by the authorities to receive such donations, then one will not be eligible for the tax deduction.

And for one to avail of a car donation tax deduction, there is some paper work that needs to be done. There are charities that help with the whole procedure especially by processing the car donations made to them and give their donors tax deductible receipts.

A written acknowledgment from the charity is then needed to be filed together with the donor’s tax returns for one to avail of the car donation tax deductions. And it is highly recommended that one keep pictures and all the necessary documents handy in case questions or problems may arise in the future.

It is always much better to file your taxes when you know you are getting a refund. If you have an old car you are no longer using, consider donating it to get supplemental car donation tax deduction. You can easily find car donations that are helpful to various charity organizations.