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:
>
> > > >
> > > > 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
> >
> > 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
>
>
Received on Mon Mar 05 2001 - 12:36:34 GMT