Charitable contribution- Domain name

[stevo]

What are the requirements for claiming a federal tax deduction on a donation of a domain name to a charitable organization? I know that a reputable appraisal is required. Are there reputable appraisal services which are acceptable to the IRS which do not charge $500?
Several names which I have would fit nicely for donation (.org's).
I would like to proceed in a manner which would reduce the chance for an audit concerning this. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[timechange.com]

I hope you're looking to evaluate a domain in the thousands

 

[Jack Gordon]

There was a thread on this subject recently... I seem to remember the consensus being that you can't do it. The only deductible value is your actual verifiable expense.

 

[stevo]

Originally posted by FrontRow
There was a thread on this subject recently... I seem to remember the consensus being that you can't do it. The only deductible value is your actual verifiable expense.

This appears to say otherwise.
http://www.dbappraisals.com/m_donations.html

 

[stevo]

Hasn't anyone attempted to do this? At least considered it?
I would appreciate any input, even if the result of the attempt was not so pretty. I believe proper documentation is the key in order to make the donation deductible. Tell me if I'm dreaming. Uncle Sam gets plenty from me every year. I could use the tax break.

 

[INFORG]

Stevo,

I don't know how much you plan on deducting, but generally, I do not provide any receipts for charitable contributions if they are less than 5% or so of my income. I just tell my tax preparer that I made $XXXX in contributions to charity.

The worst that can happen is they disallow your deduction. As long as you aren't going nuts with your deductions you should be fine and not need any paperwork.

Deduct what you feel is fair and that you could substabtiate as reasonable should the need arise.

Please note I am not a tax professional nor an attorney.

 

[avs162]

i would not want to be the test case on the issue as the domain as property and the lack of familar appraisal methodolgy might raise eyebrows.

i thought of the same thing and my accountant started twitching

but if serious you can ask for a letter ruling on it but i dont think the volume and risk would warrant it

good luck

 

[namedropper]

Don't even try to deduct the appraised value of a domain name unless you have rock solid proof that the name is worth that much or else the IRS will eat you alive.

Especially don;t try to claim any appraised value from the ridiculous places that throw out valuations of tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for every stupid name they are paid to appraise.

If you think the name is worth $3,000 or whatever and want to donate it, see if the place with pay you that much and then you can donate the cash. Even then you may run into problems if the IRS thinking the sales price was inflated because the charity knew the cash was coming right back.

 

[sitehq]

this thread gets to the point of whether a domain name is property, i beleive the domain name and the annual right to renew should be seperated, its the annual right to renew that has the value and i dont know if thats capital gain property or not

 

[timechange.com]

1. Domains are leased by the Registry, for up to 10 years at a time. You don't own a domain.
2. There was a case where domains were considered as property, by the court in a divorce case. It was on News.com but I don' t have a link