Would like to take the uncomplicated way out and basically have an individual let you know just how much a donation is worth? Get an appraisal! In case your organization decides to go this route, you must come across an specialist. But understand that you may have to become picky when deciding upon an specialist. By way of example, in case your Uncle Louie offers you an ashtray hat and says “It’s one particular of a sort and worth a hundred thousand dollars,” you may bet that his “expertise” surely will not cut it. On the other hand, if a certified appraiser who offers in (and collects) uncommon ashtray hats offers you an opinion that this unique hat is really uncommon and would fetch at the least $5 on the open market place, that is likely a additional reputable supply and of additional use in establishing the worth of the cherished item.
It will be good if this was a foolproof way of establishing worth, nevertheless it is not. So, whatever you do, do not look at this system an insurance coverage policy against the IRS second-guessing the worth a donor has assigned to a piece of house. An appraiser’s opinion is only as fantastic because the details on which it is based.
Devoid of fantastic details, it is basically a guess. And simply because an appraiser is “certified” by getting a member of an expert appraiser’s organization does not automatically establish his or her amount of competency, or vice versa. In any occasion, it is significant to understand that an appraiser’s opinion is not binding on the IRS.
