Charitable Donation

What is the name of your state? CA

To claim a deduction for a charitable donation (~$1,000), must ownership be verifiable?

I would like to donate my car to charity. However, although I "virtually" own the car, the title is in the name of my sister, who lives in Canada. Since the car is Canadian, it won't pass California emissions test, therefore I cannot register it and transfer the title to my name.

Can I still claim the deduction?

Thanks in advance.

Naturally, you cannot claim a deduction for something you don't own.

And how can the car be Canadian? Does it speak French?

So, if it's a Canadian car, does it run on beer & think curling is a sport?

Have her sign the title over to you, then you sign it over to the charitable organization.

Mais oui, it can speak French! And yes, it runs on beer (Labatt's), but prefers hockey over curling, eh?

Seriously...my sister can sign the title over to me, but I don't think I can do a secondary transfer to the charity. Rather, I have to get the title transfered to my name before I sign it over to charity (I can't be both the buyer and the seller on the same pink slip). That's the problem: for me to get the title in my name, I have to register it, which I can't do. Oh well, I will call the DMV again (though they're not as helpful as this board!).

Thanks for the help.

P.S. Anyone want to buy a nice Ford Probe? I only hit a moose with it twice...

Actually, I think that she can sign the title to you and then you donate the car. I don't think the charity would require that the car actually have been titled in your name.... only that you have legal ownership.

You might want to call the charity you are considering and ask.