Donated a gifted car to charity this year but tax software showing $0 FMV - can I still claim deduction?

The issue isn't that you received the car as a gift - it's about your "basis" in the property. When you donate property to charity, your deduction is typically limited to your cost basis in that property, not the fair market value at the time of donation. Since you received the car as a gift, your basis is the same as your uncle's basis was - basically what he originally paid for it minus any depreciation. Without knowing his original purchase price and how long he owned it, the software might be defaulting to zero. If you can determine what your uncle originally paid for the car (his cost basis), you could potentially use that figure. However, for vehicles, the basis is often minimal after many years due to depreciation. Another important note: for vehicle donations where the charity sells the vehicle, your deduction is generally limited to the gross proceeds from the sale (the $750 in your case) rather than the FMV anyway - so make sure you're entering the donation correctly in your software.

I had almost this exact situation last year and got super frustrated with trying to figure it out on my own! I tried three different tax software programs and kept getting different answers. Finally I used https://taxr.ai to upload my 1098-C and a picture of the vehicle title, and they analyzed everything for me. They explained that my deduction should indeed be limited to the gross proceeds from the charity's sale (in my case around $900), not the higher blue book value I was hoping for. Their system also helped me identify where in the tax software I needed to override the default values. Saved me a ton of headache trying to figure out which numbers go where.

Just wanted to update - I tried the taxr.ai service that I asked about and it was super helpful! I uploaded pictures of all my furniture donation receipts and it gave me a detailed breakdown of reasonable value ranges based on condition. Then it created a PDF documentation file I could save for my records in case of an audit. The system flagged that I was valuing a couple items too high based on their condition descriptions, which probably saved me from an audit flag. Really glad I found this before filing!

If you're struggling with getting answers about your vehicle donation, you might want to try calling the IRS directly. I know it sounds awful (and it usually is), but I recently used a service called https://claimyr.com that got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I had a similar issue with donated property and needed a definitive answer from the source. The agent I spoke with confirmed that for vehicle donations where the charity sells it, your deduction is limited to the gross proceeds amount on the 1098-C, regardless of how you acquired the vehicle. They also explained exactly where to report it on my return.

I want to apologize for my skeptical comment earlier about Claimyr. After spending THREE HOURS on hold with the IRS yesterday and getting disconnected right as someone answered, I decided to try the service out of desperation. It actually worked exactly as described - I got a call back in about 20 minutes with an IRS agent already on the line. The agent confirmed that for vehicle donations where the charity sells the vehicle, your deduction is limited to the gross proceeds amount shown on the 1098-C (which matches what others here have said). She also walked me through exactly how to override the basis issue in my tax software. Definitely worth it just for the time saved not sitting on hold all day!

I'm a bit confused by your situation. Are you itemizing deductions? If you're taking the standard deduction (which most people do after the tax law changes a few years ago), then the charitable donation won't actually impact your taxes anyway. For 2023 the standard deduction is $13,850 for single filers and $27,700 for married filing jointly. Unless your total itemized deductions (mortgage interest, state/local taxes up to $10k, charitable donations, etc.) exceed those amounts, you won't get any tax benefit from the car donation regardless of the value.

Quick tip since nobody mentioned it - check if your state tax return allows charitable deductions even if you take the standard deduction on your federal return! Some states have different rules and you might still get some benefit on your state taxes.