Hearing aids donation to Lions Club tax deductable?

My wife donated her older hearing aids to the local Lions Club hearing aid collection drive. She has new ones with fancier features and more volume. We also donated several dollars worth of batteries to go with the aids. If we had kept the aids and batteries, we could have gotten a $100.00 dollar reduction in price on new aids and batteries. Can we take a $100.00 tax deduction?

Reply to
hrhofmann
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Maybe. Your deduction is limited to the lower of FMV or your cost basis in the hearing aids/batteries. FMV is not the $100 trade-in value, but the amount that an independent buyer would pay for the used hearing aids and batteries. This could be more or less than $100. Additionally, your cost basis might be less than $100 to the extent that the original purchase price was reimbursed by your medical insurance.

Ira Smilovitz

Reply to
ira smilovitz

Our cost basis was in the thousands of dollars. The resale value of the aids is probably $250, maybe more, but we didn't want to go thru the headaches of the resale process.

Reply to
hrhofmann

snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net wrote: : Our cost basis was in the thousands of dollars. The resale value of the aids is probably $250, maybe more, but we didn't want to go thru the headaches of the resale process.

: --

So you donated them, which was admirable. You should still be able to claim the resale value. that is what all the people who donate cars are supposed to do. Just because you didn't take the trouble to sell them and collect the money doesn't mean that was not the value of the gift. If I had a anting that I could sel for $1,000000 but I gave it to themuseum instead, I could still claim the gift deduction of $1,000,000 as long as I have enough income (over $1,000,000 a year, to deduct it from.

Wendy Baker

Reply to
W. Baker

"a anting"? Is that a painting?

Actually, you'd need over $2 million dollars, since charitable deductions are limited to 50% of your AGI (except for certain types of organizations, which are limited to 30%).

Reply to
Barry Margolin

but excess can be carried over to future years, at least for a time.

Reply to
Pico Rico

: > snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net wrote: : > : Our cost basis was in the thousands of dollars. The resale value of the : > aids is probably $250, maybe more, but we didn't want to go thru the : > headaches of the resale process. : > : > : -- : > : > So you donated them, which was admirable. You should still be able to : > claim the resale value. that is what all the people who donate cars are : > supposed to do. Just because you didn't take the trouble to sell them and : > collect the money doesn't mean that was not the value of the gift. If I : > had a anting that I could sel for $1,000000 but I gave it to themuseum

: "a anting"? Is that a painting?

: > instead, I could still claim the gift deduction of $1,000,000 as long as I : > have enough income (over $1,000,000 a year, to deduct it from.

: Actually, you'd need over $2 million dollars, since charitable : deductions are limited to 50% of your AGI (except for certain types of : organizations, which are limited to 30%).

: -- : Barry Margolin : Arlington, MA

Reply to
W. Baker

"My wife donated her older hearing aids to the local Lions Club hearing aid collection drive."

Is the Lions Club a charity? I doubt it. Better check the organization's charitable bona fides.

Reply to
lotax

Lions Club International Foundation is a charity. From

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The Foundation is a non profit, tax-exempt organization, as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax deductible, as allowed under the Internal Revenue Service code.

Reply to
Barry Margolin

but local Lion's Clubs may or may not have 501(c)(3) status. You need to make sure exactly who you are donating to.

"Memorial and Personal Contributions The general public may assume that

when they make a specific donation to

your Lions Club that it is automatically

tax-deductible. This is not the case if

your club does not have the tax-exempt

status."

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Reply to
Pico Rico

Local Lion's Clubs are probably tax exempt, but under 501(c)(8) instead of 501(c)(3). They don't pay taxes on their income related to their exempt purpose, but donations to them are not deductible.

Barry is talking about the Lion's Club Foundation, probably set up for the specific purpose of being a 501(c)(3) that works in conjunction with the local Lion's Clubs.

Reply to
Stuart A. Bronstein

yes, that is why you need to make sure exactly WHO you are donating to when you donate "to the Lion's Club".

Reply to
Pico Rico

Yes, you really do need to be careful because your gift could end up going to the wrong place if you aren't. I just downloaded the list of approved charities from the IRS website, and it runs 21,000 pages, so there are bound to be similari

I remember one case some years ago where a woman left $5 million "to the University of Southern California, also known as UCLA." That caused all sorts of problems.

Reply to
Stuart A. Bronstein

As a receipt or acknowledgement is required for all in-kind donations, the original poster should be able to look at the one received to insure it is to a charitable organization. If they didn't get one and can't get one before they file their return, they wouldn't have a deduction.

Reply to
brianwallen

searching on the IRS website, I find 506 "lions clubs" that are exempt organizations.

you have just given me an idea . . .

Reply to
Pico Rico

That could be the equivalent of closing the barn door after the horse has left. A donor needs to check beforehand.

Reply to
Pico Rico

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