Donating a Week to Charity

[Amanda Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Amanda]

Hi all,

My husband and I are thinking of donating our 2010 week in a 3BR unit to charity in the hopes to break even on our maintenance fees.

Has anyone ever done this? In general, how does it work? Do you have to give it to someone specific or would it work to just give it to an organization?

Also, I assume that you would be able to take a charitable donation deduction on your tax return for this - what amount have you used? The maintenance fee paid or the rack rates for staying in the room?

Any past experience would be helpful!

Thanks,

Amanda

PS - I have tried the "renting" route in the past via other websites and that did not turn out too good (!!!), so I am thinking this is the probably the only other option. Any other suggestions would be appreciated... if there are any

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

There has been a lot on this topic of donation, much of it delt with taxes. I am not sure how well a search for 'donation' or 'donate' might work, but that would be a good place to start. Use the search at the top of the page to find the threads.

[aliikai2 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close aliikai2]

The Tax guru on Tug says

That you can not deduct anything for a donation of the use of a week.

Another frequent question is, "Can I get a tax deduction if I donate the use of my week to a charity?" The answer is “No”. IRS regulations won’t allow a charitable deduction for the gift of a right to use property. Donate the use of a week because you are charitable, but you can't deduct any value associated with the use of the week.

Found Timeshare Users Group Advice - Income Taxes and Timeshares

sorry,

Greg

Hi all,

My husband and I are thinking of donating our 2010 week in a 3BR unit to charity in the hopes to break even on our maintenance fees.

Has anyone ever done this? In general, how does it work? Do you have to give it to someone specific or would it work to just give it to an organization?

Also, I assume that you would be able to take a charitable donation deduction on your tax return for this - what amount have you used? The maintenance fee paid or the rack rates for staying in the room?

Any past experience would be helpful!

Thanks,

Amanda

PS - I have tried the "renting" route in the past via other websites and that did not turn out too good (!!!), so I am thinking this is the probably the only other option. Any other suggestions would be appreciated... if there are any

[Amanda Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Amanda]

Not so fast....

Thanks for the replies.. OK, so, as a CPA myself (to be fair, I do not dabble in personal taxes!! but am sadly very familiar with interpreting the IRS' guidance), I guess I should have just opened up a book to get some rules.. and here they are:

Greg, you are right in that no charitable deduction is allowed for permitting a chartible organization to "use" your property. The IRS, however, will allow charitable deductions for the cost of operation, maintenance, and repair of property directly related to the charitable organization's use of the property.

In other words, if you donate the use of your week, no tax deduction is allowed for the "rental value" or other fair market value that might be able to be assigened to it BUT it appears that at least the maintenence fee associated with it would be deductible....

In any event, I'd still be interested in practical experiences with this, if anyone has one....

Thanks again...

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

We donated the use of a timeshare trade we made once. We donated it for an auction that our dd's high school band was doing to raise money. I reserved a week in Orlando and that's what I gave them for the auction. When we knew who the winner was I had a guest certificate issued in that person's name. I honestly don't remember what we claimed on our taxes.

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

I've been to numerous gala's in the Orlando area, and have seen many weeks offered either as table merchandise and silent auction, or via the live auction process. These have come from both individual owners and also from developers.

Unfortunately, the subject of possible tax benefits wasn't something that was ever discussed over dinner and drinks! Sorry!

When you find out, please share...

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

That you can not deduct anything for a donation of the use of a week.

Another frequent question is, "Can I get a tax deduction if I donate the use of my week to a charity?" The answer is “No”. IRS regulations won’t allow a charitable deduction for the gift of a right to use property. Donate the use of a week because you are charitable, but you can't deduct any value associated with the use of the week.

Found Timeshare Users Group Advice - Income Taxes and Timeshares

sorry,

Greg

Thanks for the replies.. OK, so, as a CPA myself (to be fair, I do not dabble in personal taxes!! but am sadly very familiar with interpreting the IRS' guidance), I guess I should have just opened up a book to get some rules.. and here they are:

Greg, you are right in that no charitable deduction is allowed for permitting a charitable organization to "use" your property. The IRS, however, will allow charitable deductions for the cost of operation, maintenance, and repair of property directly related to the charitable organization's use of the property.

In other words, if you donate the use of your week, no tax deduction is allowed for the "rental value" or other fair market value that might be able to be assigened to it BUT it appears that at least the maintenance fee associated with it would be deductible....

In any event, I'd still be interested in practical experiences with this, if anyone has one....

Thanks again...

Sorry Amanda, as Greg said this has been beaten to death on Timeshare Users Group - The first and largest online community of timeshare owners providing timeshare resort reviews, timeshare ratings, FREE timeshare advice and FREE Timeshare Classified ads! - another prominent TS board that some of us belong to. "Dave M" has researched this extensively (I believe he is also a CPA but don't quote me) and the answer is no.

Welcome to TS4Ms

[Amanda Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Amanda]

Thanks Pat. I'd be interested in finding Dave M's posts and reading his research on this.

I work for a "Big 4" accounting firm and quoted the above from a book that my firm publishes yearly on individual income taxes.. but there are always various interpretations of the tax law, for sure!

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Sorry

I answered this quickly and thought it was a new person asking hence the welcome.
It is up to you what u r comfortable with in regards to the deduction but it really has been discussed many times before on TUG and I am sure here as well.

[Amanda Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Amanda]

Thanks Pat, no worries, I don't post all too often, although I do love this website! I just read some of the posts on TUG on this topic, and, the first thing I will say is that I'm so glad I found this forum first... I loveee it here - people are so nice !!!!!!! That's it on that.

With regard to Dave M's posts - it does appear that he did some extensive research; but again, interpretation comes into play. I'd be interested in what happens in practice, so when I am in the office on Friday, I think I may go and ask a friend who is a partner in our Personal Financial Services group if this has ever come up on any clients' returns within her practice before... now that its really peaked my interest. Not to mention, still trying to decide what to do with this extra week this year...

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Thanks Pat, no worries, I don't post all too often, although I do love this website! I just read some of the posts on TUG on this topic, and, the first thing I will say is that I'm so glad I found this forum first... I loveee it here - people are so nice !!!!!!! That's it on that.

With regard to Dave M's posts - it does appear that he did some extensive research; but again, interpretation comes into play. I'd be interested in what happens in practice, so when I am in the office on Friday, I think I may go and ask a friend who is a partner in our Personal Financial Services group if this has ever come up on any clients' returns within her practice before... now that its really peaked my interest. Not to mention, still trying to decide what to do with this extra week this year...

A lot of the discussion in the past had to do with people wanting to deduct "market value" - so a TS with a MF of $600 could have rented for $2500 and people wanted to deduct the $2500.
You are saying you would want to deduct the $600......I am interested in what your other 'experts' say.

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

The atmosphere is quite different OY!

Thanks Pat, no worries, I don't post all too often, although I do love this website! I just read some of the posts on TUG on this topic, and, the first thing I will say is that I'm so glad I found this forum first... I loveee it here - people are so nice !!!!!!! That's it on that.

I think you'll find many people agree with you! It really amazes me how different the two sites are- since they operate with what is basically the same model. To me, one is like a big open room with lots of windows- and the other is a crowded room with the curtains closed... I can find good stuff and people in both, but I sure enjoy being here more!

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

I think you'll find many people agree with you! It really amazes me how different the two sites are- since they operate with what is basically the same model. To me, one is like a big open room with lots of windows- and the other is a crowded room with the curtains closed... I can find good stuff and people in both, but I sure enjoy being here more!

I'm feelin' the LOVE!

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

In other words, if you donate the use of your week, no tax deduction is allowed for the "rental value" or other fair market value that might be able to be assigened to it BUT it appears that at least the maintenence fee associated with it would be deductible....

That is certainly not the interpretation of the self-appointed resident expert on this topic elsewhere.

Heck, if you could deduct the annual fee, that is more than rent anyway.

Then, you'd have to use itemized deductions, or do that extra form I useta do when we had rental property.

Then, you'd have to have income, like we useta.

I have another angle I use, but it is using hillbilly tax rules, so it doesn't apply to non-Ozark-Americans.

[Amanda Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Amanda]

agree agree agree!!

JLB - lol !!

I will report back when I'm able to gain some practical insight...