Taxpayers rush for write-off

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, December 30, 2004

Jim Brown’s voice mail was full Thursday as he arranged to pick up cars and trucks donated to the Volunteers of America in Everett.

In the past week or so, people have donated about 500 vehicles, Brown estimated.

“It’s far more than I’ve ever seen before,” said Brown, who oversees VOA’s vehicle donation operation. “We’ve had times in the past where we’d get 100 cars in one day, but now it’s been like that every day.”

Michael V. Martina / The Herald Jim Brown of the Volunteers of America in Everett says the agency has received 500 donated cars in the past 10 days, including this older Mercedes-Benz, as the 2004 tax deadline approaches.

The huge increase can’t be attributed solely to holiday generosity, however. Vehicle owners are rushing to make donations before Saturday, when a tax law change will limit the deductions they can take for cars, planes or boats they give to charity.

The deadline also has meant a windfall for the Edmonds Community College Foundation, said Susan Kostick, vice president of college relations and advancement.

The foundation, which started its vehicle donation program about a year ago, recently started advertising the upcoming tax law change to potential donors.

“Just with that small amount of notice, there’s been a huge increase,” said Kostick, adding that the foundation has received about 40 donated vehicles in the last six months. Of those, all but 12 have been donated in the weeks since Thanksgiving.

A growing number of charities are accepting donated vehicles. For the 2000 tax year, more than 730,000 taxpayers filed for car donation deductions totaling a collective $654 million, or just under than $900 per vehicle, according to the Government Accountability Office.

VOA’s Western Washington office in Everett now handles vehicle donation processing for more than three dozen other nonprofit agencies. The thousands of vehicles it takes in go either to salvage yards, to the agency’s own sales lots or are auctioned on eBay.

All the proceeds from vehicles donated directly to VOA go to the agency’s social service programs. Proceeds from vehicles it handles for other ageniesy are split between the two, Brown said.

The EdCC Foundation lets an outside business sell its cars, Kostick said. The foundation then receives back a portion of the profit, which helps to pay for scholarships, education programs and facilities at the college.

Both Brown and Kostick agreed that the majority of donors they work with decide to give away vehicles for reasons beyond wanting a tax write-off. “That’s almost never the reason people donate,” Kostick said.

Brown said about 30 percent of people donating vehicles to VOA specifically mention the tax deduction.

“I think it’s going to have some effect,” he said of the tax law change.

As the tax benefit of donating a vehicle gets smaller, Brown said he’ll try to emphasize to potential donors the good that their gift can do in the community.

Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.