Charitable gifts allow you to benefit organizations you care about while enjoying a tax deduction. Cash is the easiest gift, but sometimes it’s more advantageous to donate other assets — and sometimes it’s not. Take vehicle donations: If you donate your vehicle to charity, the value of your deduction can vary greatly depending on what the charity does with it.

But in most circumstances, if the vehicle you’re donating is valued at more than $500 and the charity sells it, your deduction is limited to the amount of the sales proceeds.

As with any donation of more than $75, the charity also must disclose whether it provided you any goods or services in relation to the vehicle donation, making a good-faith estimate of the value of any goods and services provided. You must then reduce your deduction by that value.

To learn more about donating your vehicle to charity, read our whitepaper on the filing and recordkeeping requirements of donating a car.