4 Mar
2001
4 Mar
'01
5:08 p.m.
On Sun, 4 Mar 2001, Sellam Ismail wrote:
On Sun, 4 Mar 2001, ajp166 wrote:
Well, with a few caveats, it should be your marginal tax rate (your
'bracket') times the valuation of the donation. For example, your $1000
donation should bring you a $280 tax deduction if you are in the 28%
bracket.
- don
Things to consider:
Is it truly rare or uncommon.
Does an institution actually want it.
Very good point. A lot of the "official" computer museums won't take
common stuff. You can check out The Computer Museum's donation criteria
here:
http://www.computerhistory.org/contribute/index.page#artifacts
Basically, they say they won't accept any common machines anymore. They
have plenty.
Also, people have a misconception of how useful a tax deduction really is.
Even a $1,000 donation only amounts to a few dollars back on their return.
I'm going to check with my tax guy and find out how much a donation
deduction means on the bottom line (unless someone here knows this). It'd
be nice to have a baseline figure so that you could just offer the
equivalent cash to anyone wanting to donate something but is considering
the tax break. Cash is immediate and under-the-table :) Who
removes, moves and/or ships it for either case?
A) museum may or may not...
B) You can make points by also providing that service.
Most museums will not pay for the shipping, unless it's something exotic
or crucial.
Often the "impressive deduction" is not
real and the cost to remove and
move the system is up to the owner. If there is a goal, I'd say make it
easiest for the system owner to give or sell to you.
Exactly. See above. Make sure you explain to people wanting to donate
old hardware that either they won't find anybody who'll take it or the
expense will outweigh any cash they get back on their tax return.
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org