Is the fire dept. a charitable org for donation write offs?

[jgombos]

What is the name of your state? IN

I had some weights for sale, and got a call from the local fire department. The firefighter is planning to pay me out of his own pocket for the weights because the department won't buy them for them (apparently he's getting them for the station). So I'm thinking maybe I can just donate these things, and write them off. My asking price was probably considerably less than fair market value (I advertised them for cheap to move them fast), so I'm thinking the deduction will about equal what the guy plans to pay me out of pocket anyway.

So to get to the question, is it possible to write this off as a donation without too much trouble? Will I need to get some kind of receipt from the fire dept?What is the name of your state?

[FlyingRon]

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf

See the section on "non-cash donations"

You must make sure the organization you are donating to is a qualified charity.
Yes you should get a receipt (a letter from them acknowledging your gift will suffice).

[jgombos]

That sounds encouraging.. I was beginning to wonder if the fact that the equipment is not necessary for them to do their jobs would make the donation ineligible. So it doesn't matter what I donate, so long as it goes to a eligible org, right?

I'll have to read that publication.. I just came in here to get a quick idea, since other buyers are calling for the equipment.

Thanks!

[jgombos]

My local fire dept is not listed as an eligible organization according to the IRS search tool: [url]http://apps.irs.gov/portal/site/pub78/template.MAXIMIZE/menuitem.72f1796ad102792acd9e6be24937a759/?PORTALSESSIONID=Hd1z2SgBijweFmO07SgTnCex2F12bSLVVVq6PgBazOcpGfFG0Gbx!721784468!432907174&javax.port let.tpst=289c57ca6035546c47564fe84937a759_ws_MX&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=token&javax.portlet.endCac heTok=token[/url]

But the publication says donations to 'local government' are eligible. It then says i need to dive into the tax code to determine whether an org is considered eligible as a local government. Does anyone know the answer to this? Or are different fire depts treated differently?

[jgombos]

Nevermind folks.. I ran the whole idea past the firefighter, and he said he could not accept it. There is some kind of rule that their department cannot accept gifts.