Non-cash charitable contribution

[RWG1950]

I have a customer that bought some type of a fancy riding lawnmower for about $ 6,500 in 2016. So fancy it even apparently has some sort of meter showing hours of use. This customer says he used it for only an hour or two (per the meter) and became dissatisfied with it and stopped using it. About a year later (in 2017) he gave or donated it to a local church. He wants to claim a non-cash contribution deduction on form 8283 for $ 5,000 for donating this machine.
The dealer he bought it from gave him a written statement showing in his the current sales price range for this model of used (but pristine) machine to be between $4,000 to $ 5,000.
I'm a little reluctant to go with the $5,000 deduction. Anyone have any thought on how they might handle this ?

[Uncle Sam]

You didn't mention anything about a written acknowledgement of the contribution from the church, as to whether any goods or services were exchanged which is a requirement to claim the donation deduction.
That "appraisal" from the dealer needs to be attached to the tax return in addition to completing the Form 8283. I would use the lower value.

[TAXNJ]

You should ask the guy how many people offered to buy the (slightly) used lawn mower for $5,000. My guess = no one.

As Burke mentioned, there may be some issues getting an IRS-acceptable donation statement from the church. Even with that, I think the high value is likely not realistic for purposes of Form 8283.

FE

Cannot see BURKE's rely post but reply poster Uncle Sam's reply is something the Original Poster might consider.