How to Donate a Domain Name to a Nonprofit
A domain name donation may be of significant value to a charity if the name is well known, it receives a lot of traffic or it's sought after by other businesses. However, because a domain name is an intangible product, it's difficult to appraise its value. This value is determined by the website traffic it has, its name competition and other factors such as branding and marketing. When you own a domain name and no longer wish to keep it, you might consider donating it to charity and deducting the valued amount from your taxes. This deduction varies depending on the appraised value of the domain and the amount the IRS allows you to deduct.
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Instructions
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Contact a domain name appraiser to get an estimated value of the domain name. You must present a domain name appraisal from a reliable appraiser to make a tax deduction claim. The amount of the tax deduction depends on the current market value of the domain and is determined by the appraisal documentation and your accountant.
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Locate a charity that can use the type of traffic the website gets. Also consider donating the website to a charity that doesn't necessarily need the traffic but that may want to sell the domain for a profit. Choose a charity that works with organizations or for causes that you believe in, if this is the case.
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Inform the charity of the type and number of visitors the website receives on a daily basis. Give the approximate appraised value of the domain name based on the professional appraiser analysis.
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Obtain a donation form from the charity if it's interested in the domain. Fill out the form and indicate the name of the domain and its approximate value based on its appraised value.
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Call or contact your domain registrar and ask the representative to remove the domain lock so you can transfer it to another user. Fill out the transfer form with your registrar and give the new owner's name and any other information required.
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Take the deduction when filing your income tax. Place the appraised value of the domain name on Line 38 of IRS Form 1040. Multiply the appraised value times your tax bracket percentage to get the total deduction you can take. For instance, enter $10,000 on Line 38, if the appraised value is $10,000, and multiply this number by 25 percent if your tax bracket is 25 percent. The total amount is your total tax deduction --- in this case, $2,500.
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