When a charitable contribution has a date of contribution and date of sell are in two different tax years, which tax year should to 1098-C be filed?

[missionpasta]

None of the information on IRS and TurboTax support pages describe what to do when your 1098-C form includes contribution and sell dates occur on different tax years. My 1098-C reflects a December 2020 donation date and a sell date of 2021 by the charity, so I don't know how to reconcile the year disparity without creating inconsistencies with my 2021 Tax year filing. What is the best way to proceed that preserves my opportunity to claim this charitable deduction for my 2021 tax filing?

[PatriciaV · Accepted solution]

In general, the sale date by the charity would not be relevant to your donation. You would report this donation in the tax year in which you gave the item to the charity.

See this IRS link, page 4, for more info on determining the value to report for your donation: IRS Form 1098-C (2019).

[missionpasta]

Thank you for the helpful response. Unfortunately, I did not file the 1098-C on my 2020 taxes (Dec 2020 donation) because I kept getting an error code related to the date of sale being in Jan 2021. I assumed that meant I had to report the charitable donation the following tax year (2021). Now, I am getting the same error message. Does this mean I've essentially lost the opportunity to claim the donation? 

[PatriciaV]

Not necessarily. You have two options:
1. Amend your 2020 return (not recommended due to the backlog at the IRS)

2. Report the donation on your 2021 return and use 1/1/2021 as the donation date.

[missionpasta]

Thanks again for the prompt and helpful advice.