Greetings!
A company (an LLC, I think) wants to donate the use of office space to
a registered 501(c)3. The space is identical to other demised units
in the building so there is plenty of evidence establishing the market
value of the
lease.
1. As I understand it, the company can not take a standard
gift-in-kind deduction using form 8283 because these circumstances
create an "ungift" situation, wherein the company would benefit twice:
once from the deduction associated with the charitable contribution
and once from avoiding taxes on the foregone income. Is my
interpretation correct?
2. If so, what are some workarounds to enable the company to take a
deduction for providing the rent-free space? The only idea I have is
for the company to make a cash gift equivent to the rent and then take
that back via a standard lease. Is that legal? What else could work?
3. Some of the demised spaces may be structured as business
condominiums. If so, would it work for the company to sell or give
the space to the 501(c)3 (thus, I presume, enabling it to claim the
full market value in one fell swoop) with some sort of first right of
refusal to get the space back (for a nominal price) when the charity
vacated it? Would it be better to include an option that renewed
annually so that the company had a way to effectively evict the
501(c)3 on a regular basis? Or does that create some other tax event
that would be detrimental to the company?
3. What if the donation consisted of some percentage of the company
which conferred the rights to occupy that space? This seems to me
like it would be unattractive to the company, but it might work if
they've isolated an LLC just to own this particular building.
4. What else should be considered?
Thanks very much. |