can't get TurboTax to accept donated car value

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
February 2, 2020
12 replies
72 views

Hello - we donated a car in 2019 to an organization, and did receive a 1098-C. Box 5a is checked indicating that they will make material improvements or significant intervening use. Box 5C says "used as a training vehicle by students in the auto technical program" and therefore we may use fair market value as our deduction. None of the 4a, 4b, or 4c boxes are filled in. Box 7 is blank.

We conservatively value the car at $2000.

When I enter this into Turbo Tax, it tells me that because the 1098-C statement value was $0, TurboTax will change what we've entered to match the 1098-C unless we qualify for one of the exemptions ... which I'm assuming we do - the charity made material improvement to the vehicle before we sold it. We've selected this exemption, but as we continue to the next screen, TurboTax still has the value of the donation at $0 and no matter what I do, I cannot seem to get it to accept a $2000 donation. What am I doing wrong? Thanks so much for any help!!

DaveF1006

Level 15

Please follow the instructions in the following Turbo Tax link regarding instructions on how to report the donation.

As long as your 1098-C reports your donated car as "0", that is the amount that is the value of the donation. There is no way to get around that. I would suggest that you request a corrected 1098-C from the organization.

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johnsfamAuthor

Level 2

Thank you for your reply!

Before writing here for help, I had read the instructions at the link you provided. The organization we donated the car to receives MANY cars, so I can't imagine they did the form wrong. Is the price in box 4 supposed to be the value of the donated car, or is that what they supposedly sold the car for? They weren't going to sell it because it was going to be used to teach students how to do mechanical and auto-body repair. Since they didn't sell it, that means we can't take it as a tax deductible donation?

JulieS

Level 15

If the charity did not sell the car, you are allowed to deduct the Fair Market Value (FMV), or what you paid for it, whichever is less.

I think the problem may have to do with the screen titled, Your Entered Value Is Different. If you select None of the above, the program does not show any deduction for the vehicle.

It may not sound quite right, but try the third choice, The charity gave or sold the vehicle at a reduced price to a needy individual.

This allows the FMV to be used for your deduction, instead of the amount in box 4. In addition that phrase, The charity gave or sold the vehicle at a reduced price to a needy individual, doesn't appear on Form 8283.

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gtalms

Level 2

It looks to me like you have discovered a bug in TurboTax. If the charity does not sell the car, then there is generally no way for it to document the Fair Market Value. The bug is that TurboTax forces the value to $0 unless you fudge the data and say that they sold the car when in reality they did not.

JFRAHER

Level 7

To expand a little on what JulieS says above. In the above scenario checking either The Charity made a significant use or material improvement will allow the deduction.

akeerbs6

Level 2

Yes but what if the organization doesn't sell the car and the intention is that they are going to use the car for their charity work? checking the box saying that they made significant improvements before they sold it isn't quite correct in this context. I had someone tell me that you can place it as a personal property donation and use FMV as the donation.