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posted Jun 3, 2019 11:08:42 AM

I am going to donate a week of my timeshare to a charity so they can raise money by raffleing it off. What can I take as a charitable donation

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1 Best answer
Intuit Alumni
Jun 3, 2019 11:08:43 AM

Unfortuntately, nothing.

There are a few things that you can't deduct:

  • You can't deduct the value of time or services you provide as a volunteer. For instance, if you're a carpenter and you help a nonprofit group build a home for the poor, you can deduct travel costs and building supplies you buy, but not the value of the work you do.
  • Also, a donor cannot continue to enjoy control over donated funds or property contributed; the gift must be irrevocable to qualify for the charitable deduction. 
Partial Interest in Property
Generally, you can't deduct a charitable contri­bution of less than your entire interest in prop­erty.

Right to use property.
A contribution of the right to use property is a contribution of less than your entire interest in that property and isn't deductible.
Example 1.
You own a 10­ story office building and donate rent­ free use of the top floor to a charitable organization. Because you still own the building, you have contributed a partial interest in the property and can't take a deduction for the contribution.
Example 2.
Mandy White owns a vacation home at the beach that she sometimes rents toothers. For a fund­-raising auction at her church,she donated the right to use the vacation homefor 1 week. At the auction, the church received and accepted a bid from Lauren Green equal tothe fair rental value of the home for 1 week.
Mandy can't claim a deduction because of thepartial interest rule. Lauren can't claim a deduc­tion either, because she received a benefit equal to the amount of her payment.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf

1 Replies
Intuit Alumni
Jun 3, 2019 11:08:43 AM

Unfortuntately, nothing.

There are a few things that you can't deduct:

  • You can't deduct the value of time or services you provide as a volunteer. For instance, if you're a carpenter and you help a nonprofit group build a home for the poor, you can deduct travel costs and building supplies you buy, but not the value of the work you do.
  • Also, a donor cannot continue to enjoy control over donated funds or property contributed; the gift must be irrevocable to qualify for the charitable deduction. 
Partial Interest in Property
Generally, you can't deduct a charitable contri­bution of less than your entire interest in prop­erty.

Right to use property.
A contribution of the right to use property is a contribution of less than your entire interest in that property and isn't deductible.
Example 1.
You own a 10­ story office building and donate rent­ free use of the top floor to a charitable organization. Because you still own the building, you have contributed a partial interest in the property and can't take a deduction for the contribution.
Example 2.
Mandy White owns a vacation home at the beach that she sometimes rents toothers. For a fund­-raising auction at her church,she donated the right to use the vacation homefor 1 week. At the auction, the church received and accepted a bid from Lauren Green equal tothe fair rental value of the home for 1 week.
Mandy can't claim a deduction because of thepartial interest rule. Lauren can't claim a deduc­tion either, because she received a benefit equal to the amount of her payment.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf