Tax Benefits to Domain Donation??

[FreshAvails.com]

I am thinking of making a donation of a domain to a non-profit. I have a couple of valuations from the usual suspects (leapfish, instibot) and would like to take those valuations as a tax benefit. Has anyone done something like this before?

 

[fatter]

Donations of appraissed items is under IRs scrutiny right now because people were getting jewelry etc appraised for much higher than the are worth, cars same thing, so IRS expects proof otherwise you can only deduct reg fee from what I understand, unless you bought it for higher then the higher price is OK, like if you bought a domain for 10k and donated it you could take the full 10k deduction. I am not a tax expert just saying I would be carefull because if audited you have to prove its worth and domain appraising isnt a science, same as antique appraissals which irs is after those folks too. people buy antiques for little and get a high appraissal for the item and some of them have lost there battle with irs and made them change the deduction to what they paid for the item. Like i said i am not a tax expert but have read on little on the subject, also curious what other more qualified people have to say. I would aslo think if you had evidence of a money making name then you could figure that in the equation.

 

[DNQuest.com]

That is true, actual value would be what was paid for them. So if you registered a domain for 6.95, that is your deduciton. The only way the government would use valuation would be if there is a tax code specifically written for domain name... but at that point, then expect to pay taxes on those valuations (possibly even if you don't sell them).

 

[tricolorro]

Tax Benefits to Domain Donation?

I am thinking of making a donation of a domain to a non-profit. I have a couple of valuations from the usual suspects (leapfish, instibot) and would like to take those valuations as a tax benefit. Has anyone done something like this before?

:hi:

Some info for you:

from DomainNameWire.com:
"Donating Domains to Charity Isn’t an Instant Tax Break
http://snipurl.com/domaindonations

from AvivaDirectory.com:
http://www.avivadirectory.com/domain-law/

Whole article is great but scroll to:
"#7. Donating Domain Names"

Excerpts:
"Treating your domains as inventory is similarly limited to the lesser of your cost basis or the fair market value. Again, assuming the domain has increased in value during the time you’ve held it, that means you only get to deduct the amount you paid for it, which may make donating the domain no longer worth it."

"How to Stay Out of Trouble?

Never take a sizeable deduction without some documentation. If you’re doing your own taxes, the best way to stay clear of really big problems is to document everything. Get a third party appraiser before a donation, and if you don’t want to do that, at least have a listing of the selling prices of comparable domains during that time frame so you can show some support for your deduction. Also consider, that if the charity sells the domain, you can use the actual selling price as the fair market value for determining the deduction."

Patrick

 

[FreshAvails.com]

Thanks for the heads up!

Makes giving them a lot harder to do. At that point if becomes real charity!!