Aircraft fall under the same provisions as cars and boats: section 170(f)(12) for the acknowledgment, and the qualified appraisal rules of section 170(f)(11) above $5,000. There are two ways your deduction can be measured, and the charity's use of the aircraft decides which applies.
Route one: the aircraft is sold
This is what happens to most donated aircraft. Your deduction is the gross proceeds — the price the aircraft actually brings, not an estimate made beforehand and not a book value. We report that figure to you on Form 1098-C within 30 days of the sale, and the same form goes to the IRS. You attach Copy B to your return.
The practical consequence is that nobody can tell you your deduction before the sale closes. A charity that quotes a number up front on a sale-route donation is guessing; the figure that counts is the one on the 1098-C.
Route two: the aircraft is kept and used
If the charity makes significant intervening use of the aircraft — a flight school trainer, a maintenance program teaching airframe, a mission aircraft — or retains it for at least 36 months, your deduction rests on fair market value established by a qualified appraisal rather than a sale price. The 1098-C then carries the intervening-use certification instead of a proceeds figure.
This route often produces the larger deduction, but it is not something you or we can simply elect. It depends on whether a real program needs that airframe. We tell you which route yours is heading down before anything is signed, and if it changes, we tell you that too.
What counts as significant intervening use
The test is whether the aircraft is actually used in the charity's programs, substantially and for a meaningful period — not held briefly before resale. Flying a donated 172 as a mission or training aircraft for two years is intervening use. Parking it for three weeks while a buyer is found is not, even though the aircraft sat on our ramp the whole time.
Airframes that go to A&P schools are the clearest case in aviation: a maintenance program takes a timed-out or damaged aircraft, students work on it for years, and the aircraft never returns to service. The same airframe would have brought very little at sale, which is why this route matters most to donors whose aircraft is past economical repair.
Retention for at least 36 months without a sale also qualifies, as does a transfer to another qualified charity for the same purpose. In each case the 1098-C carries a certification instead of a price, and your appraisal becomes the basis of the claim.
The three thresholds that change your paperwork
| Claimed value | What you file | Appraisal |
|---|---|---|
| Under $500 | Your own records and our written acknowledgment | Not required |
| $500 to $5,000 | Form 8283 Section A, plus Form 1098-C Copy B | Not required |
| Above $5,000 | Form 8283 Section B, signed by your appraiser and by us | Qualified appraisal, dated no earlier than 60 days before the donation |
Most airworthy aircraft land in the third row. Parts lots, projects and ultralights frequently do not — and an aggregate of similar items counts as a single claim, so a shop cleanout can cross $5,000 even when nothing in it does individually.
The appraisal is yours, by design
A qualified appraisal must be independent of the recipient charity. We cannot value your aircraft, cannot select your appraiser and cannot pay for the appraisal. Those constraints protect your deduction rather than ours. What we do is sign Form 8283 Section B as the recipient organization once your appraiser has completed it.
Expect a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on type and complexity. It is the one cost in the process that can fall to you, and on aircraft well above the threshold it is usually recovered many times over by the deduction it supports.
What makes an appraiser "qualified"
Publication 561 sets the bar: the appraiser must hold a recognized appraisal designation or have met minimum education and experience requirements, regularly perform appraisals for pay, and be demonstrably qualified to value the kind of property in question. Aircraft are specialized enough that a general personal-property appraiser is usually the wrong choice — for a warbird or a jet, genuinely so.
Certain people are excluded outright: the donor, the recipient charity, any party to the transaction, and anyone whose fee is based on a percentage of the appraised value. A percentage-based fee invalidates the appraisal.
What the appraisal report must contain
A qualified appraisal describes the aircraft in enough detail to be identified, states the valuation method and the specific basis for it, gives the effective valuation date, the appraised fair market value, the terms of any agreement about the aircraft's use or disposition, and the appraiser's qualifications and signature. It must be dated no earlier than 60 days before the donation date and completed before your return's due date.
Keep the full report. You attach Form 8283 Section B to your return, not the appraisal itself, but the report is what you produce if the claim is ever examined.
Two situations that catch donors out
Business-owned and depreciated aircraft. If the aircraft has been depreciated on a company return, your deduction is generally limited to adjusted basis rather than market value, and recapture rules may apply. This is the most common place donors are caught out, and it needs your CPA before you assume any figure.
Deduction limits and carryforward. Charitable deductions are capped as a percentage of adjusted gross income, with the excess generally carried forward up to five years. A large aircraft gift often cannot be used in a single tax year, which is worth planning before year end rather than after.
What arrives, and when
| Stage | What you receive | Typical timing |
|---|---|---|
| Donation accepted | Written confirmation naming the aircraft and the charity | Within days of the paperwork being signed |
| Aircraft collected | Transfer documents, bill of sale copy, AC Form 8050-2 filing confirmation | At or shortly after pickup |
| Sale closes | Form 1098-C stating the gross proceeds | Within 30 days of the sale |
| Retained and used instead | Form 1098-C with the intervening-use certification | Within 30 days of the determination |
If the sale falls in a later tax year than the donation, the deduction generally follows the donation year — with the 1098-C arriving afterwards. Donors filing close to the deadline in that situation usually file an extension rather than guess at the figure.
Records worth keeping
Keep the written acknowledgment, Form 1098-C Copy B, your Form 8283 with any Section B signatures, the full appraisal report where one was required, the bill of sale and registration transfer, and photographs of the aircraft as it stood at donation. For a business-owned aircraft, keep the depreciation schedule that establishes adjusted basis. That set answers every question an examiner is likely to ask.
Common questions
Can you tell me what my deduction will be?
Not before a sale closes, and we will not pretend otherwise. On the sale route the deduction is whatever the aircraft brings. On the retained-and-used route it is whatever your appraiser establishes. What we can tell you early is which route your aircraft is on.
Does the aircraft need to be airworthy?
No. Condition affects the amount, never the eligibility. Aircraft that are out of annual, damaged, disassembled or missing logs are donated here constantly, and several routes — parts recovery, school airframes — exist specifically for them.
Can I claim the value I have seen in a price guide?
Not on its own. Guide values are a data point an appraiser may consider, not a substitute for an appraisal, and they are not relevant at all when the aircraft is sold — proceeds govern. Claiming a guide figure against a sale-route donation is the most common way these deductions get adjusted.
What if two people own the aircraft?
Both owners sign, and each claims according to ownership share. The same applies to a partnership or an LLC, where the deduction flows through to the members. We handle co-owned and estate-held aircraft routinely; the paperwork is a step longer, not a barrier.
Can an estate or a trust donate an aircraft?
Yes, and it is a common reason aircraft reach us. Who claims the deduction depends on how the estate is structured and whether the aircraft passed to beneficiaries first. That is a question for the estate's attorney or CPA, and we will work to whatever answer they give.
Is there a deadline for a given tax year?
The donation must be complete — title transferred — by 31 December to count for that year. The aircraft does not need to have been sold, or even collected, by then. Year-end donations are worth starting in November rather than the last week of December, simply because title work takes time.
What if the aircraft is outside the United States?
We accept aircraft worldwide, and the deduction rules are the same for a US taxpayer. What changes is the logistics and the paperwork: de-registration, export and customs steps ahead of the transfer. Whether a non-US taxpayer gets any benefit depends on their own country's rules, which we cannot advise on.
Sources
The governing guidance is IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions; Publication 561, Determining the Value of Donated Property; the Form 1098-C instructions; and Form 8283. Giving Center does not provide tax, legal or financial advice, and nothing here substitutes for your own CPA reviewing your return.
Related: FAA transfer paperwork · start a donation
Ready to start?
Tell us the type, the hours, the state of the logs and where it sits. We will tell you which deduction route yours is on before anything is signed.