How should I value personal use television for donation?
IRS Pub 561 says you have to use fair market value.  You cannot simply use a depreciated value. You should attempt to determine what people normally pay for comparable items, and be prepared to defend your determination with evidence in the event of an audit. The usual lazy recommendation: See what similar objects, in similar condition, of similar age, have sold for recently on eBay. That establishes a fair market value by directly polling the market. Is it a tube television, digital, analog, what?  Tube televisions are no longer made in (or imported to) the U.S., and if it's an analog set then it would require a digital converter just for anyone to use it for watching broadcast signals, since analog television signals are gone and have been replaced by DTV.  That makes all the difference in the world as far as valuation.  If it doesn't have resale value to begin with then I doubt you can put a real value on it for donation purposes. I used TurboTax last year. It had a section for donations where it figured out the amounts of the IRS approved values for a donation.  You would need to know the size of the television and the current condition it is in.  He's a screenshot - though it's not from the TV section.  https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Taxes-101/Video--How-to-Estimate-the-Value-of-Clothing-for-IRS-Deductions/INF13870.html+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us TurboTax offers a free online tool called ItsDeductible that does the same thing (though I haven't tried it). Unfortunately, I don't have the current one with TV's to give you the range of amounts that apply to yours. --I am not affiliated with TurboTax and did not receive it for free for a review.
Donations need to be with no strings attached. In this case, you make the cash donation, a deduction, and then they pay you, in taxable income. It's a wash. Why not just give them the service for free? Otherwise this is just money going back and forth. I stopped paying that $1000/year charge for cable seven years ago. Today I watch about an hour of television a week. Some weeks I will watch one sports game. Meanwhile I've been able to spend on the order of $10,000 for healthier, more productive activities. I've noticed that people don't talk about what they watched on television much anymore, so I'm not missing out on social interactions. My first question to you is if you itemize?  If not the charitable contributions will not do any good.  Along these lines, donating unused items to Goodwill or similar can help boost your charitable giving.   The bottom line is that the 401K is one of the few real deductions high earners have.  If you anticipate earning similarly next year, you could both contribute the max.  You still have some time before the end of the year, can you get more in your wife's account? Does your state have income tax?  You might be able to deduct sales tax for larger purchases if you made any.  However, I would not justify a large purchase just to write off the sales tax.  Conventional wisdom will tell you that you should have a large mortgage in order to deduct the interests.  However, it does not make sense to pay the bank 10K so you can get 3K back from the government.  That seems pretty dumb. If you did not do additional withholding, you probably will have to pay a significant amount plus penalty if you owe more than $1000.  You still have time to make one more quarterly payment, so you may want to do so by January 15th. For next year I would recommend the following: The funny thing about giving is that it rarely helps the recipient, it does so much more for the giver.  It helps you build wealth. For myself I like to give to charities that have a bent to helping people out of poverty or homelessness.  We have two excellent ones here in Orlando, FL:  Orlando Rescue Mission and Christian Help.  Both have significant job training and budgeting programs. It's a good question. We can't know for sure, but here are some things to think about. Paypal advertises a discounted transaction rate for non-profit organizations.  In the U.S. at least, the rate they advertise is 2.2% + 0.30 USD.  There are lots of things that can come into play here, such as international rates or any special deal that Wikimedia has struck with Paypal, but it seems reasonable to guess that of your 2€ donation, Wikipedia sees perhaps 1.65€.  Note that most of the fee is a flat rate; of the next 2€ in your donation, Wikipedia gets 1.96€. Direct debit probably has lower fees.  Paypal has to account for some credit card transaction fees in their fee structure, and direct debit does not.  Therefore, I would guess that to maximize your gift, direct debit might result a little better than Paypal.   Charities, in general, don't want to tell you the best way to donate, because they want it to be as easy for you as possible, and don't want to discourage any type of donation at all.  They are very happy to get any donation, even if one method over another results in slightly higher fees.  Wikimedia, in particular, offers many different options for donating. How much is your time worth This has been useful for me, judging things based on how much their time value is worth to me, weighted more heavily than their actual worth. For instance, there was a time when I used to work on the weekends and pay to have my laundry done. Doing the laundry myself would have cost 25 cents, but taken two hours at least. Since I was making $45 an hour, I would have lost $90 dollars by doing my laundry, instead of paying specialists $28 to do it for me, much better than I would. Your own capital should begin growing at a rate that makes many MANY things worth less than the time it takes for you to entertain it. So in your cable bill example, you shouldn't have argued for a $5 credit for two hours, unless you make $2.25 an hour, after tax. This is simplistic, as you would extrapolate how much this would cost you over a year or two, but such cost benefit analysis' become easy with this simple concept. This can also be used to rationalize your lavish expenditures. Such as not really comparing the costs for a flight, because its a 2 hour flight for $400 and you've found yourself making at least $200 an hour with your $416,000 annual earnings and capital gains. This will cure your frugality while retaining safe guards on your spending. To be safe you should donate the printer to the charity. Or even better, have the charity purchase it and you donate a equivalent number of dollars directed towards purchasing the equipment. Once your wife no longer volunteers with the charity it should be returned to the charity because they own it. I stopped paying for television from my cable company a few years ago.  I have Netflix, Hulu Plus, Roku, DVDs, Bluray, ect.  The only thing I wish I had that I don't is HBOgo.  I'm in the same boat about commercials as the author.  When I'm at someone else's house and a commercial comes on, it is a novel thing. "You should probably have a tax professional help you with that (generally advisable when doing corporation returns, even if its a small S corp with a single shareholder). Some of it may be deductible, depending on the tax-exemption status of the recipients. Some may be deductible as business expenses. To address Chris's comment: Generally you can deduct as a business on your 1120S anything that is necessary and ordinary for your business. Charitable deductions flow through to your personal 1040, so Colin's reference to pub 526 is the right place to look at (if it was a C-corp, it might be different).  Advertisement costs is a necessary and ordinary expense for any business, but you need to look at the essence of the transaction. Did you expect the sponsorship to provide you any new clients? Did you anticipate additional exposure to the potential customers? Was the investment (80 hours of your work) similar to the costs of paid advertisement for the same audience? If so - it is probably a business expense. While you can't deduct the time on its own, you can deduct the salary you paid yourself for working on this, materials, attributed depreciation, etc. If you can't justify it as advertisement, then its a donation, and then you cannot deduct it (because you did receive something in return). It might not be allowed as a business expense, and you might be required to consider it as ""personal use"", i.e.: salary." If you plan on trading it, it's a social construct. If you plan on keeping it for yourself, then the value is personal. Not always easy to disentangle the two. Sometimes people are more willing to risk personal safety to rescue items of sentimental value... You are thinking of something similar to [Patreon](www.patreon.com) then but more automated? I don't quite think automation works for this because you might not want to give every site you visit money, even if you visit it often in a short period of time (e.g. while doing research into cults you might not want to give the WBC money). That's tricky, actually. First, as the section 1015 that you've referred to in your other question says - you take the lowest of the fair market value or the actual donor basis. Why is it important? Consider these examples: So, if the relative bought you a brand new car and you're the first title holder (i.e.: the relative paid, but the car was registered directly to you) - you can argue that the basis is the actual money paid. In essence you got a money gift that you used to purchase the car. If however the relative bought the car, took the title, and then drove it 5 miles to your house and signed the title over to you - the IRS can argue that the car basis is the FMV, which is lower because it is now a used car that you got. You're the second owner. That may be a significant difference, just by driving off the lot, the car can lose 10-15% of its value. If you got a car that's used, and the donor gives it to you - your basis is the fair market value (unless its higher than the donor's basis - in which case you get the donor's basis). You always get the lowest basis for losses (and depreciation is akin to a loss). Now consider the situation when your relative is a business owner and used the car for business. He didn't take the depreciation, but he was entitled to. IRS can argue that the fact that he didn't take is irrelevant and reduce the donor's basis by the allowable depreciation. That may bring your loss basis to below the FMV. I suggest you take it to a tax professional licensed in your state who will check all the facts and circumstances of your situation. Your relative might be slapped with a gift tax as well, if the car FMV is above certain amount (currently the exemption is $14000). "First to clear a few things up.   It is definitely not a gift. The people are sending you money only because you are providing them with a service.   And for tax purposes, it is not a ""Donation"". It has nothing to do with the fact that you are soliciting the donation, as charitable organizations solicit donations all the time. For tax purposes, it is not a ""Donation"" because you do not have 501(c)(3) non profit status.   It is income. The question is then, is it ""Business"" income, or ""Hobby"" related income?   Firstly, you haven't mentioned, but it's important to consider, how much money are you receiving from this monthly, or how much money do you expect to receive from this annually?   If it's a minimal amount, say $50 a month or less, then you probably just want to treat it as a hobby. Mostly because with this level of income, it's not likely to be profitable. In that case, report the income and pay the tax. The tax you will owe will be minimal and will probably be less than the costs involved with setting up and running it as a business anyway. As a Hobby, you won't be able to deduct your expenses (server costs, etc...) unless you itemize your taxes on Schedule A.   On the other hand if your income from this will be significantly more than $600/yr, now or in the near future, then you should consider running it as a business.   Get it clear in your mind that it's a business, and that you intend it to be profitable. Perhaps it won't be profitable now, or even for a while. What's important at this point is that you intend it to be profitable.   The IRS will consider, if it looks like a business, and it acts like a business, then it's probably a business... so make it so.   Come up with a name for your business. Register the business with your state and/or county as necessary in your location. Get a bank account for your business. Get a separate Business PayPal account. Keep personal and business expenses (and income) separate.   As a business, when you file your taxes, you will be able to file a Schedule C form even if you do not itemize your taxes on Schedule A. On Schedule C, you list and total your (business) income, and your (business) expenses, then you subtract the expenses from the income to calculate your profit (or loss).   If your business income is more than your business expenses, you pay tax on the difference (the profit).  If your business expenses are more than your business income, then you have a business loss. You would not have to pay any income tax on the business income, and you may be able to be carry the loss over to the next and following years. You may want to have a service do your taxes for you, but at this level, it is certainly something you could do yourself with some minimal consultations with an accountant." "in the U.S. (for @Software Monkey) books are treated just like any other donation, you look at comparable sales: IRS Link. Sounds like a pain to do each book manually. TurbtoTax has ""ItsDeductable"" product that suppose to help you calculate the value of donated items." "I'm going to post this as an answer because it's from the GoFundMe website, but ultimately even they say to speak with a tax professional about it.  Am I responsible for taxes? (US Only) While this is by no means a guarantee, donations on GoFundMe are   simply considered to be ""personal gifts"" which are not, for the most   part, taxed as income in the US. However, there may be particular,   case-specific instances where the income is taxable (dependent on   amounts received and use of the monies, etc.).     We're unable to   provide specific tax advice since everyone's situation is different   and tax rules can change on a yearly basis. We advise that you   maintain adequate records of donations received, and consult with your   personal tax adviser.     Additionally, WePay will not report the funds   you collect as earned income. It is up to you (and a tax professional)   to determine whether your proceeds represent taxable income. The   person who's listed on the WePay account and ultimately receives the   funds may be responsible for taxes.     Again, every situation is   different, so please consult with a tax professional in your area. https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/204295498-Am-I-responsible-for-taxes-US-Only- And here's a blurb from LibertyTax.com which adds to the confusion, but enforces the ""speak with a professional"" idea: Crowdfunding services have to report to the IRS campaigns that total   at least $20,000 and 200 transactions. Money collected from   crowdfunding is considered either income or a gift. This is where things get a little tricky. If money donated is not a   gift or investment, it is considered taxable income. Even a gift could   be subject to the gift tax, but that tax applies only to the gift   giver. Non-Taxable Gifts These are donations made without the expectation of getting something   in return. Think of all those Patriots’ fans who gave money to   GoFundMe to help defray the cost of quarterback Tom Brady’s NFL fine   for Deflategate. Those fans aren’t expecting anything in return –   except maybe some satisfaction -- so their donations are considered   gifts. Under IRS rules, an individual can give another individual a   gift of up to $14,000 without tax implications. So, unless a Brady fan   is particularly generous, his or her GoFundMe gift won’t be taxed. Taxable Income Now consider that same Brady fan donating $300 to a Patriots’ business   venture. If the fan receives stock or equity in the company in return   for the donation, this is considered an investment and is not taxable   . However, if the business owner does not offer stock or equity in the   company, the money donated could be considered business income and the   recipient would need to report it on a tax return. https://www.libertytax.com/tax-lounge/two-tax-rules-to-know-before-you-try-kickstarter-or-gofundme/" Assuming cell A1 contains the number of trades: will price up to A1=100 at 17 each, and the rest at 14 each. The key is the MAX and MIN. They keep an item from being counted twice. If X would end up negative, MAX(0,x) clamps it to 0. By extension, if X-100 would be negative, MAX(0, X-100) would be 0 -- ie: that number doesn't increase til X>100. When A1=99, MIN(a1,100) == 99, and MAX(0,a1-100) == 0. When A1=100, MIN(a1,100) == 100, and MAX(0,a1-100) == 0. When A1=101, MIN(a1,100) == 100, and MAX(0,a1-100) == 1. Of course, if the 100th item should be $14, then change the 100s to 99s.