To be eligible to claim your car donation on your federal taxes you need to make sure that you are donating to an IRS registered charity and that you are itemizing your deductions on your taxes. You need to use Form 1040 and Schedule A. Keep in mind that to be able to use Schedule A your itemized deductions must be greater than the standard deduction.
Know what you can claim.
To claim the car donation on your taxes you can either:
If you use option one, you will only need to have the receipt of where you donated the vehicle.
If you use option two, you will need to assess the fair market value of the vehicle. The fair market value is not the same the "blue book" value of the vehicle. See How to Determine the Fair Market Value of a Vehicle for more info on getting the fair market value of a vehicle.
If you use option three, you must wait for the charity to sell the vehicle. If they sell it for more than $500.00 they will mail you a sales receipt for your taxes.
When you are preparing your taxes remember that your deductions cannot exceed 50% of your adjusted gross income.
