5 Mar
2001
5 Mar
'01
3 a.m.
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 
5 Mar
5 Mar
3:35 a.m.
The only caveat is that the museum cannot set a value on the donation.
The donor does that. IRS regulations.
On Mon, 5 Mar 2001, Steve Robertson wrote:
The "value" of a item donated to a museum is not mecessarily the market
value. In many cases the numbers are vastly inflated in order to entice
additional donations.
Let's assume you are in a high tax bracket and looking for a little relief.
You find a bargain on a very rare computer and pay $10,000 for it. You haul
it down to the local technology museum, who is anxious to have the donation,
and agree to give them the item. In exchange you ask them to provide a
receipt for $100,000 for the machine. Since it's not costing them anything
and the addition to the museum will entice additional visitors, they gladly
agree to provide the receipt.
You claim a $100,000 donation on your tax return and pay taxes on that much
less of your income. That would probably be in the 30% - 40% range. Or a
savings of $30,000 to $40,000!!!
So... for your $10,000 investment you:
1.) Look like a real upstanding citizen for supporting the local museum.
2.) Get your name on a plaque in the museum (free advertising).
3.) Save $30,000 to $40,000 on your taxes.
The museum gets a nice addition to it's collection at no cost.
Next time you go to a museum, look around. Most of the really valuable
things were not donated because someone felt particularily generous. They
were donated because the owners got huge tax breaks by donating them. The
whole thing is a SCAM!
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
Shady Lea, Rhode Island
"Casta est quam nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
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 
5:17 a.m.
On Mon, 5 Mar 2001, Merle K. Peirce wrote:
The only caveat is that the museum cannot set a value
on the donation.
The donor does that. IRS regulations.
And if you get audited, you must be able to somehow justify that value.
BTW, I can provide appraisals to those wanting to avoid the big bad G-man!
:)
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
7:36 a.m.
On Mon, 5 Mar 2001, Merle K. Peirce wrote:
The only caveat is that the museum cannot set a value
on the donation.
The donor does that. IRS regulations.
There are also IRS regulations as to deductability if the value exceeds
20% of your annual income as well. Admittedly, few of us are likely to
be bothered by those.
- don
On Mon, 5 Mar 2001, Steve Robertson wrote:
The "value" of a item donated to a museum is not mecessarily the market
value. In many cases the numbers are vastly inflated in order to entice
additional donations.
Let's assume you are in a high tax bracket and looking for a little relief.
You find a bargain on a very rare computer and pay $10,000 for it. You haul
it down to the local technology museum, who is anxious to have the donation,
and agree to give them the item. In exchange you ask them to provide a
receipt for $100,000 for the machine. Since it's not costing them anything
and the addition to the museum will entice additional visitors, they gladly
agree to provide the receipt.
You claim a $100,000 donation on your tax return and pay taxes on that much
less of your income. That would probably be in the 30% - 40% range. Or a
savings of $30,000 to $40,000!!!
So... for your $10,000 investment you:
1.) Look like a real upstanding citizen for supporting the local museum.
2.) Get your name on a plaque in the museum (free advertising).
3.) Save $30,000 to $40,000 on your taxes.
The museum gets a nice addition to it's collection at no cost.
Next time you go to a museum, look around. Most of the really valuable
things were not donated because someone felt particularily generous. They
were donated because the owners got huge tax breaks by donating them. The
whole thing is a SCAM!
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
Shady Lea, Rhode Island
"Casta est quam nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
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 
4:34 a.m.
Wouldn't the $90,000 profit realized (the $100,000 donation value
minus the $10,000 price) then be taxable income in this example?
Let's assume you are in a high tax bracket and
looking for a little
relief.
You find a bargain on a very rare computer and pay
$10,000 for it. You
haul
it down to the local technology museum, who is anxious
to have the
donation,
and agree to give them the item. In exchange you ask
them to provide a
receipt for $100,000 for the machine. Since it's not costing them anything
and the addition to the museum will entice additional visitors, they
gladly
agree to provide the receipt.
You claim a $100,000 donation on your tax return and pay taxes on that
much
less of your income. That would probably be in the 30%
- 40% range. Or a
savings of $30,000 to $40,000!!!
6:31 a.m.
Another nit to pick:
If you buy something, and then turn around and donate it, the "value" of
the donation is the amount that you paid for it.
If, however, you buy something and sit on it, ... Then the value is its
"fair market value". I'm not sure, but I think that the requisite time
interval is a year.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred
On Mon, 5 Mar 2001, Michael Passer wrote:
Wouldn't the $90,000 profit realized (the $100,000
donation value
minus the $10,000 price) then be taxable income in this example?
Let's assume you are in a high tax bracket
and looking for a little
relief.
You find a bargain on a very rare computer and
pay $10,000 for it. You
haul
it down to the local technology museum, who is
anxious to have the
donation,
and agree to give them the item. In exchange you
ask them to provide a
receipt for $100,000 for the machine. Since it's not costing them anything
and the addition to the museum will entice additional visitors, they
gladly
agree to provide the receipt.
You claim a $100,000 donation on your tax return and pay taxes on that
much
> less of your income. That would probably be in the 30% - 40% range. Or a
> savings of $30,000 to $40,000!!!
8490
days inactive
8490
days old
5 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
at258＠osfn.org -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
donm＠cts.com -
foo＠siconic.com -
mwp＠acm.org -
steven_j_robertson＠hotmail.com