Original Message:
Re: Re: Trying to get rid of a timeshare already paid in full. (by KC):
carlettar wrote:Ours is paid off as well and we enjoyed many years with it. After trying unsuccessfully to sale it, someone suggested we donate it to charity. So, we did several years ago. We got a $5000 deduction at that time. Not sure if you can still do it under current IRS laws. I was pleased because at that level, the deduction was really worth it as it significantly reduced our taxes that year.
If your timeshare "donation" was to an outfit called "Donate For A Cause" (formerly in Bozeman, Montana, with a man named James Tarpey being the principal), the IRS shut them down completely some years ago for providing bogus, inflated valuations for "donated" timeshares. IRS rules (then and / or now) allow only "fair market value" for a donation deduction --- and the fair market value of a timeshare that cannot be sold at any price but can only be given away for free (or by paying someone to take it off your hands) is obviously and precisely ZERO.
Anyway, you are very fortunate if DFAC was the outfit you dealt with and you had no subsequent legal repercussions. No legitimate charity on planet Earth wants any part of accepting the "donation" of a timeshare, since a timeshare is basically an ongoing financial liability; it's certainly not an asset that can be of any use or value whatsoever to a charity.