Queston about Donating an Exchange Week

I exchange through RCI and know I can't rent my week and don't want to break any rules or even bend them.

However, we have an upcoming week at a popular destination and my wife can only stay for half of the week. I have the choice of staying by myself of course but I have also been thinking that since our church is in the middle of a fund raiser that I could give the three days to someone who would give X amount of dollars toward the cause.


Would that be allowed?

The second part of my question since I am on the topic would be if I do an exchange to say Orlando can I donate that to my son's school auction?

This may have been asked before but the TUG search function seems to be acting up.

I know another TUG contributor who does both with several weeks a year, and there are people who look forward to their donations.

But, perhaps it is owned weeks, or Fairham stuff, or something other than exchanges.

Perhaps they will be along shortly.

Although not specifically discussed in the RCI (or II) T&C, the major exchange companies generally don't have a problem with either of your two suggestions. However, to be sure of your ground, you should ask RCI and then make a note of the date of the call and the person you talked to.

I don't have any specific RCI experience, but an example of II authorization is here. (CraigU was II's former rep to TUG).

Keep in mind that the tax law prohibits taking a tax deduction for the donation of the use of property (which would include your donation).

Follow up on Tax dedution comment

I understand that for me. I wouldn't take the deduction but can the person who made the donation and received a week be able to get a deduction? That seems like it could be a sticky one. I guess I could tell them my actual cost and anything above that would be considered tax deductible? Thoughts. And I guess I will call RCI if I decide to even do this.

What Dave is saying is, "NO. Not unless you are donating ownership."

stonebroke said:

I understand that for me. I wouldn't take the deduction but can the person who made the donation and received a week be able to get a deduction? That seems like it could be a sticky one. I guess I could tell them my actual cost and anything above that would be considered tax deductible? Thoughts. And I guess I will call RCI if I decide to even do this.

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Only above the value

stonebroke said:

I understand that for me. I wouldn't take the deduction but can the person who made the donation and received a week be able to get a deduction? That seems like it could be a sticky one. I guess I could tell them my actual cost and anything above that would be considered tax deductible? Thoughts. And I guess I will call RCI if I decide to even do this.

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The person who 'buys' the donated item can only deduct anything they pay over the value of the item. For instance, if the value of the time you are donating is $500 (based on rack rate I believe) and they paid $750, then they can deduct $250 as a donation. It doesn't matter what you paid for it.

It can get tricky on things on the other end. Let's say you purchased a super-duper TV for a pittance (let's say $50) but the retail value of the item is $500. And you donate it to a worthy cause for their auction. You can only deduct what you actually paid for the item - $50. And the person who 'buys' it from the charity can only deduct anything they paid over $500.

But, oops, donating something like USE of a timeshare or vacation rental property isn't deductible under most circumstances.

My understanding of 'the system'. As always, talk to your accountant about it.

Teresa is correct in her explanation of the two very different contribution situations. Only one situation relates to a donation of the use of property. Confirming with an example from the bottom of page 8 in the IRS publication on Charitable Contributions:

Example 2. Mandy White owns a vacation home at the beach that she sometimes rents to others. For a fund-raising auction at her church, she donated the right to use the vacation home for 1 week. At the auction, the church received and accepted a bid from Lauren Green equal to the fair rental value of the home for 1 week. Mandy cannot claim a deduction because of the partial interest rule. Lauren cannot claim a deduction either, because she received a benefit equal to the amount of her payment.

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Note: the "partial interest rule" referred to in the quoted text is the rule from the Internal Revenue Code that prohibits deducting donations of the use of property.