Thinking about donating your boat? Here’s a year end charitable donation caution:
Some charities are advertising that they accept donations of boats. What they don’t say is that to maximize your tax deduction the IRS requires a certified appraisal report by a professional marine surveyor for the donor to take a tax deduction for the full boat value. Without a certified appraisal, the tax deduction is limited to the amount that they get when they sell the boat (in the middle of winter in a depressed wholesale market). This typically reduces the tax benefit of your donation.
Baysave is different. We keep the boat to benefit the local community. It may serve the nonprofit marina or may be converted to develop sustainable aquaculture. The tax deduction amount is based on a potentially higher appraised value. The issue is that these certified boat appraisals are very rare.
We don’t think that there is any charity in our region other than Baysave that has the resources
If you are considering donating a boat, rely on the CPA leadership of Baysave to help our rural bayshore and lock in a safe tax deduction.
For more information see IRS instructions for Form 8283 at https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8283