Donate for a Cause?

chriskre · Feb 19, 2010

I, like most of you, have too many TS's so I want to get rid of one. :bawl:

I'm trying to keep only my EOY and triennial units and get rid of my annuals, so saw these folks on ebay.

Anyone use them? Are they just a front for a post card company?

Sounds too good to be true. So is it? :shrug:

chriskre · Feb 20, 2010

Anybody heard of them? They advertise on ebay.

DeniseM · Feb 20, 2010

To see the old posts on TUG about this company, put this in your google search box -

"donate for a cause"site:tugbbs.com

Charities will only accept weeks that they can turn around and sell quickly for a profit. They will not accept weeks with little or no resale value.

richardm · Feb 22, 2010

http://www.timeshareforums.com/foru...ng-your-timeshare-charity-did-work-you-3.html

About halfway down the page you'll find info on their business model.. Jim's company is the largest of the donation businesses, and they have now gone to a pay us to take your timeshare model. It's still much cheaper than Timeshare Relief, however, so if you considering that route- it may be a last ditch option..

Of course, it's probably much cheaper to simply liquidate on your own and offer to pay the closing costs for the buyer. You might try that route first.

chriskre · Feb 26, 2010

They finally sent me an email offering me their services but of course they would not accept my TS without a hefty donation.:ignore:

Look at the generous offer they made to me: :banana:

Thank you for your interest in donating your timeshare, our broker has reviewed your property and has determined that your property is less desirable than others in the area and we are not able to accept the property under our no cost donation program. We do have another donation program that your property would qualify for called our Guaranteed Donation Program, where the property will be deeded out of your name within eight weeks, the fee for this program would be $1,299.00 and this fee would also be tax deductible in addition to the deduction you will receive for the property itself. If you decide to proceed with this program we guarantee that the donation will go through or you will receive a full refund. Please also keep in mind that you will still receive a donation receipt for the property itself in addition to a receipt for the costs. The IRS allows deeded property donors to determine the fair market value of their donation up to $5,000.00 without an appraisal and for non deeded properties up to $500.00. Appraisals are recommended on all donations. The closing company offers appraisals for $299.00, if you elect to do the appraisal now you can do the guaranteed donation program and the appraisal for $1,549.00 and receive $49.00 off the appraisal fee.

If you would like to proceed with the guaranteed donation program please send a check or money order made payable to Resort Closings, Inc. to the address below along with the attached documents, a copy of your recorded deed and a copy of your satisfaction of mortgage. Please make sure that your 2010 maintenance fee is paid in full. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

***Please note we will cover up to $200.00 in fees to transfer your ownership. Any fees in excess of this amount will be your responsibility.

Thank you,

Crystal Dalke

President

Thought you guys would appreciate a good laugh. :rofl:

Only $1500 and I'd be rid of my problem. For that I can vacation for 2 more years, thank you very much.

Amy · Feb 27, 2010

Another rip off company. There is no way that hefty fee is tax deductible (and I hope someone reports the place to the IRS for going around telling ts owners that). All they'll do is list the unit up for sale on eBay for $1 from something like $499 for closing costs (that doesn't even include insurance). You'll be better off offering it for free to a TUGger in the Bargain ts forum on this board.

Dave M · Feb 27, 2010

Amy is correct. None of the fees are deductible. The only allowed deduction is the fair market value of the timeshare, equal to the amouint it can be sold for in today's resale marketplace. See the TUG timeshare tax article (from the TUG Advice section) for more info.

chriskre · Feb 27, 2010

Well, all is not lost on this unit. This year I deposited it and got an AC with II and I'll probably do 2 short stays for 6 nights each so I think I'll keep it for now. Maybe when I run out of vacation time I'll see if one of my friends wants it. For now I'll just be a vacation hog.

theo · Feb 28, 2010

Well...

Amy said:
Another rip off company.....

I'm certainly not defending Donate for a Cause, but imho it's harsh, unfair and inaccurate to characterize DFAC as a "ripoff company". They have, after all, been around for a long time and they do indeed donate some proceeds (...if there are any) to the charity of the donor's own choice. Only in very recent times (about the past year or so) have they adopted the PCC-like model of requiring the equivalent of a few years' maintenance fee for very low value timeshares. Let's be honest --- a donation of a timeshare which has little or no market value is hardly a "gift" --- it's more like switching a stinky albatross carcass to someonel else's neck instead of your own.

That said, DFAC principal James Tarpey, as an attorney, should certainly know better than to post (or allow) entirely inaccurate claims of tax deduction eligibility to appear in DFAC site contents.

Amy · Feb 28, 2010

theo: I don't see why my characterization is harsh, unfair or inaccurate. I have had no dealings with the company or its principal and I have never before paid attention to this company. I simply characterized the company based on what it appears to be right now. The fact that it might not have been a rip off company before does not mean that it is not one now, one that relies on a reputation of past and presumably ongoing work with charities; and it is that reputation that causes folks to believe in its trustworthiness.

For me, a rip off company is one that uses false or misleading statements to induce naive or vunerable people into taking action that ends up causing some loss, whether that loss be in the form of (1) actual monetary fees upfront as described above, (2) loss based on not bothering to try selling his/her own week on his/her own and perhaps generate some money, even if merely $100, and/or (3) loss in terms of risk of having the IRS assess a penalty because a taxpayer relied on the company's advice and claimed some improper deduction. (Let's set aside whether a smart person would rely on such a company's tax advice. But when a company claims to be some expert in helping charities there many people would believe the company is trustworthy.)

In addition to the representation made in communication with a potential donor like chriskre, this company currently claims, on its website, that:

one can "[g]et a Tax Write-off for $10,000 - $40,000"
so it is better to donate the timeshare to DFAC instead of selling the week because "y donating, timeshare owners capitalize on their profits while also assisting charitable organizations"

I know nothing of its principal. If Mr. Tarpey is an attorney, he is not currently active in Montana, where DFAC and its sister closing company Resort Closings is listed as their place of business; I just checked the state bar records. If he is an attorney, even if he is not currently actively practicing law, IMHO he is still obligated to abide by the legal ethics rules. In Montana (and I believe every or almost every state in the union), those rules include the prohibition against: "engag[ing] in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation." (Montana RPC Rule 8.4). Making false or misleading statements about tax deductions should fall into this category.

Hum, I know this is going off on a tangent here, but your reference to Mr. Tarpey as an attorney and my inability to find him listed as a member of the Montana state bar is bothersome. I searched some more and discovered Mr. Tarpey apparently holds himself out as an attorney with this article on his Resort Closings site that states he is an "Esq." and "Owner and Legal Counsel" and his Twitter profile lists him as being an "Attorney" for DFAC. In the State of Montana, I think that falls within the state bar's definition of "unauthorized practice of law," see UPL Memo:

37-61-201. Who considered to be practicing law. Any person who shall hold himself out or advertise as an attorney or counselor at law or who . . . .

Click to expand...

(Emphasis added).

Back to topic of discussion . . . .

The online Merriam Webster dictionary defines "rip off" as, among other things, "a financial exploitation." Here, DFAC does not have to take the low or no value timeshares at all. DFAC chooses to do so under the umbrella of a charitable company that expressly advises folks inaccurately that they could take a big tax write off, including a write off of certain upfront fees, all in the name of charity, so that it could collect those very high fees. This type of representation is false, misleading, or, at the very least, exploitative -- it seeks to take advantage of the uninformed or less informed timeshare owners for its monetary gain. A company that engages in such activity is, IMHO if not yours, a "rip off company."

chriskre · Feb 28, 2010

If the IRS would not give me the tax deduction and it would trigger an audit then I'd have to agree with Amy that this might just be a rip off. :annoyed:

I think they will refund your money if the IRS audits you but what about the money you'd have to pay to defend yourself in an audit or any penalties if you didn't win the audit. I'm sure they don't cover that.

I think it's probably safer to give it away for free than risk the problems with the IRS. Until next year I guess I'll just enjoy a few extra weeks of vacation.

theo · Mar 1, 2010

Clarifications apparently in order...

Amy said:
....but your reference to Mr. Tarpey as an attorney and my inability to find him listed as a member of the Montana state bar is bothersome.

You may or may not be aware that James Tarpey is the principal in both Resort Closings, Inc. and Donate for a Cause, although the relevance of that observation is debatable.

My clear understanding, addressed in these very TUG forums by Mr. Tarpey himself on at least one occasion, is that he is a Colorado bar attorney. For what he is currently doing at his offices in Bozeman, MT there is apparently no legal requirement for him to be a member of the Montana bar, perhaps because what he is doing in Montana may not actually constitute practicing law in the first place. :shrug:

My own further understanding is that for those timeshare weeks which actually have some likely market value, the multi-year prepayment of maintenance fee requirement is waived by DFAC and only actual closing costs are required for such weeks. Perhaps that policy has recently changed; I do not claim to know with certainty.

In any event, although I don't know Mr. Tarpey from Adam's cat, we can simply agree to disagree whether or not his current business model warrants being summarily labelled as a "ripoff". I'm not intereted in debating definitions. As already very clearly stated previously, I do take exception to the (entirely incorrect) DFAC representation of costs and fees as being tax deductible. Clearly, they absolutely are not and since those applicable tax laws are federal (not state), it's bad advice coming from anyone, attorney or not.

Dave M · Mar 1, 2010

theo said:
My clear understanding, addressed in these very TUG forums by Mr. Tarpey himself on at least one occasion, is that he is a Colorado bar attorney.

If Mr. Tarpay is making such a claim, it would appear to be a false claim. He is not listed by the Colorado Bar Association as being a Colorado attorney. You can verify that by doing your own search of Colorado attorneys for his name. The search turns up no Colorado attorneys named Tarpay.

Further, Martindale-Hubbel, the premier U.S. attorney listing service, lists no U.S. attorneys named James Tarpay. The seven listed attorneys named Tarpay are from Illinois, Texas, Connecticut, New York or Massachusetts, not Colorado, Montana or any other western state.

Dave M · Mar 1, 2010

Amy said:
In addition to the representation made in communication with a potential donor like chriskre, this company currently claims, on its website, that:

one can "[g]et a Tax Write-off for $10,000 - $40,000"

so it is better to donate the timeshare to DFAC instead of selling the week because "y donating, timeshare owners capitalize on their profits while also assisting charitable organizations"

The second bullet, especially the part about capitalizing on your profits, makes no economic sense.

Assume an owner could, in fact, sell a timeshare for $10,000. Thus, unless the owner plans to cheat by deducting an exorbitantly high amount, the owner has a choice between selling for $10,000 or donating and claiming a tax deduction of $10,000.

Selling: The sale proceeds would be $10,000, less closing costs of (approximately) $500, for net of $9,500. There should be no income tax associated with the sale, assuming that the owner's original cost was at least as much as $10,000.

Donating: The allowable donation would be $10,000. Assuming the owner is in the highest federal and state combined tax bracket, the tax benefit would be approximately 40% of the $10,000 deduction, for a net tax savings of $4,000 (40% X $10,000). In addition, the owner incurs a combined transfer/appraisal fee of $1,549 to DFAC, leaving a net of only $2,451.

Would you rather have $9,500 by selling or $1,549 by donating? And keep in mind that DFAC's actual donation to charity might well be quite small. For my money, I'll sell the timeshare and make my own donation to a charity of my choice.

theo · Mar 1, 2010

Search by correct spelling...

Dave M said:
If Mr. Tarpay is making such a claim, it would appear to be a false claim. He is not listed by the Colorado Bar Association as being a Colorado attorney. You can verify that by doing your own search of Colorado attorneys for his name. The search turns up no Colorado attorneys named Tarpay.

Further, Martindale-Hubbel, the premier U.S. attorney listing service, lists no U.S. attorneys named James Tarpay. The seven listed attorneys named Tarpay are from Illinois, Texas, Connecticut, New York or Massachusetts, not Colorado, Montana or any other western state.

For the record, the correct spelling of the man's name is Tarpey (not Tarpay).
Mr. Tarpey has spoken for himself in these TUG forums, so I'm not going to speak for him...

Dave M · Mar 1, 2010

I apologize for the incorrect spelling in my post. However, I used the correct spelling for the searches, the results of which are as I stated. Mr. Tarpey isn't listed.

theo · Mar 1, 2010

I have no dog (...or even much interest) in this particular fight, but....

Dave M said:
... Mr. Tarpey isn't listed.

According to a post made by TUG Guest "NYAttorney" on July 08, 2008, in "Buying, Selling & Renting", within a thread specifically entitled Resort Closings, Inc., James P. Tarpey is (or was at that time) determined by NYAttorney to be a licensed Colorado attorney (Colorado registration # 30034, to be even more specific), although Mr. Tarpey's business address is (or was at that time) indicated to be that of Resort Closings, Inc. in Bozeman, Montana, which is the same address (and principal) as Donate for a Cause.

For anyone sufficiently interested, in a separate post on July 30, 2008 within the very same above referenced thread, Mr. Tarpey speaks for himself, addressing at some length the nature of his relationship, function and activities vis a vis Resort Closings, Inc. / Donate for a Cause and why he clearly believes he does not need to be a Montana bar member to do what he is doing in Montana.

Dave M · Mar 1, 2010

I have received a credible message that although my information about the Colorado Bar is apparently accuarate, Mr. Tarpey may well be an attorney. There is no Colorado attorney #30034 in the Colorado Bar Association. Stay tuned....

theo · Mar 1, 2010

I'm personally not very much interested in "staying tuned", but...

Dave M said:
I have received a credible message that although my information about the Colorado Bar is apparently accuarate, Mr. Tarpey may well be an attorney. There is no Colorado attorney #30034 in the Colorado Bar Association. Stay tuned....

Seems like you're now trying to have it both ways ---you claim that your "information" is accurate, but your premature conclusion somehow isn't. Which of these two contradictory observations is your actual position?

Mr. Tarpey's TUG "handle" is (or was back in 2008) "Resortcl". If you doubt the veracity of his claims, and/ or the 2008 independent verification of Tarpey's CO licensed attorney status (as provided and verified with specificity by a NY bar attorney / TUG poster with whom Tarpey apparently conducted a transaction, info which included a very specific CO license registration number), to what potential future development would one potentially "stay tuned"? :shrug:

Just curious...

Dave M · Mar 2, 2010

It's possible that he is a licensed attorney. However, he is apparently not a member of the Colorado Bar as neither his name nor his license # (the one you listed) show up in a search of the Colorado Bar website. Try it yourself. Thus, I'm not trying to have it both ways. You are welcome to try to twist my words if you wish. I believe my info about the Colorado Bar is accurate.

More to come, I believe....

chriskre · Mar 2, 2010

Oh this is getting entertaining. :clap:

Charlie D. · Mar 2, 2010

To me it doesn’t matter if the guy is a doctor, lawyer, or Indian Chief. If he is putting out that a TS that someone has to pay someone else money to take off their hands is a donation, he’ll more than likely get you audited. Anything that gets a person’s return information moved from the machinery to a human is the first step in potentially getting audited. It could be the DIF score given to the return or the extra form required to be filed with a non-cash contribution of over $500. It would then be up to the human to decide if the item that caused the return to be selected for more scrutiny is worth follow-up. If not, back to the machinery. If so, return is forwarded to the field for further review and possible audit. The human can limit the scope of the audit to the item that triggered the review or can expand the scope to include other items on the return that they feel warrant an examination.

Charlie D.

brigechols · Mar 2, 2010

The Colorado Bar Association only lists members of the Colorado bar who opt to join the Colorado Bar Association. It does not list all attorneys admitted to practice law in the state. For that information, you need to look at the Colorado Supreme Court website for the roster of attorneys licensed to practice in the state. Mr. Tarpey appears on that website.

chriskre · Mar 3, 2010

brigechols said:
The Colorado Bar Association only lists members of the Colorado bar who opt to join the Colorado Bar Association. It does not list all attorneys admitted to practice law in the state. For that information, you need to look at the Colorado Supreme Court website for the roster of attorneys licensed to practice in the state. Mr. Tarpey appears on that website.

Why would a lawyer not join his professional organization? :shrug:

Do they require you to conform to a higher ethics than non-members?

richardm · Mar 3, 2010

Just guessing..

Chances are he makes more $$$ from his timeshare related businesses that his legal practice. He may simply do the minimum that is required to keep his licensure active.

I know plenty of licensed real estate associates who aren't really active in the business. They may complete their continuing education requirements and pay to keep their licenses active, but don't pay any other related organizational dues.

Donate for a Cause?

chriskre

chriskre

DeniseM

richardm

chriskre

Amy

Dave M

chriskre

theo

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

Amy

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