Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Donations to/from HOA and Federal tax (was Re: HELP MAKE COHOUSING MORE AFFORDABLE)

[Diana Carroll (dianaecarroll]

Um...Sharon, we are talking about two entirely different things here.  I'm
not talking about an HOA accepting donations, just making them:
specifically to the affordable cohousing charity recently announced, to
which this thread was a response.

And I'm talking about something very specific to filing for HOAs.
 "Non-exempt" income is that derived from sources OTHER than condo fees.
 Condo fees are not taxable...therefore you can't deduct expenses from
them.   You can only deducted from that non-exempt income specific types of
expenses.  For instance, I cannot deduct the expense of mowing from
non-exempt income.

My question was aimed at those folks who actually file taxes for their
HOAs: have you deducted charitable donations from your taxes?

If it is possible to do so, then I might be interested in making a proposal
to my group that we collectively make a contribution to the Affordable
Cohousing group.

Diana


On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 2:39 PM, Sharon Villines
<sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>wrote:

>
>
> On Nov 22, 2013, at 1:53 PM, Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 11:04 AM, R.P. Aditya <aditya [at] grot.org> wrote:
> >
> >> If your HOA makes a donation to an IRS recognized (501c3 etc.)
> >> nonprofit, then the HOA should be able to deduct it.
> >>
> > Thanks, but my question was how.  Special rules apply to HOAs...if they
> > file a 1040H they only pay taxes on "non-exempt" income which does not
> > include condo fees...and can only deduct expenses which apply
> specifically
> > to that income.  Which...does or does not include donations?  So the
> > question of whether and how to deduct charitable donations is very
> specific
> > to Home Owners' Associations.
>
> Perhaps part of the confusion is around the word "exempt".
>
> Many kinds of income are exempt from taxes for one reason or another --
> business expenses incurred when trying to earn money being a major one.
>
> Only donations to 501c3 IRS approved organizations, which exist for the
> good of the public, are tax exempt as charitable donations. Other donations
> are not customarily tax deductible.
>
> When we moved in one of our residents believed we should be tax-exempt
> because we would demonstrate a more equitable, economically, and
> environmentally sound housing model. We were doing something good. (Runners
> often feel the same way.)
>
> If we had applied for 501c3 status, we would not have been able to own our
> units. A 501c3 cannot exist for the profit of it's members. It's mission is
> to serve the public interest, to serve others at no profit to itself. HOA's
> serve owners.
>
> Some communities with special programs apart from the HOA do have 501c3
> status for those programs. (I don't have examples but I remember seeing
> them discussed here.)
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
>
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