Deduction for donating time share points to a charity

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
February 26, 2023
1 reply
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We gave back our timeshare to Wyndham in 2022. We had 154,000 unused timeshare points, and they asked if we would like to donate them to a charity called Vacations for Vets. We gave them permission to do so. As far as I can tell, the points have a value of 1.07 cents per points. The total value of 154,000 points is $1648. Can I deduct that amount as a charitable gift, and, if so, how do I do that? Thank you for any help you can provide.

Not A Product Question

PattiF

Level 15

No, you can not deduct the donation of a timeshare week as a charitable deduction. The IRS has a rule(1) that states, the use of a property, or the permission to use and occupy a property, is not considered a gift of property.

A donor cannot continue to enjoy control over donated funds or property contributed; the gift must be irrevocable to qualify for the charitable deduction.

A contribution of the right to use property is a contribution of less than your entire interest in that property and isn't deductible.

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TjsdasAuthor

Level 2

Thank you PattiF for your quick response. Just to clarify, we did not retain control of those points after returning and giving up our ownership of the timeshare. Wyndham asked us if we would like to donate those points (our total points that we had earned over 3 or 4 years) at the time the property was legally returned to Wyndham. The charity is called Vacations for Vets. Since we were not able to use the points ourselves, we thought that sounded like a good idea. We have a letter from Wyndham that thanks us for donating the points. Since we did not retain any rights to the property and could not in any way use the points once the property was returned to Wyndham, are we still unable to take a deduction?

Thank you for your further clarification.

Opus 17

Level 15

@Tjsdas

You can only take a donation for something that you have a basis in. Roughly speaking, basis is the amount of after-tax income you have invested in something. If you find some used furniture on the side of the road, you fix it and clean it up and then donate it to Goodwill, you can deduct the value of your supplies used in fixing and cleaning, but you can’t deduct anything for the value of your time, and you can’t deduct the value of the furniture, because it was never included in your taxable income.

So the question is, do you have a taxable basis in your timeshare points? That probably depends on what you were required to do in order to get to the points. If your original contract said something like, you are paying $10,000 upfront and in return we will give you 20,000 points per year for you to use at any location according to a points menu, then you paid for the points, and I think you have a basis in them. On the other hand, if you were awarded points like discount coupons for using facilities, that could be applied to future vacations, then I don’t think you have a basis, because it’s a discount coupon, and not an asset that you purchased. But I would certainly be interested in hearing other opinions.