So, a friend in my work community (we’re children’s authors) was recently diagnosed with cancer. All of her local colleagues would like to organize a benefit auction to raise money for her medical expenses.
She has a much better presence on-line with far flung people than she does in our local area, though. So we thought there should be an online component to the auction, so we can reach out to them.
Now, I know eBay doesn’t allow charity auctions. And this isn’t a nonprofit; she’s just a person who would, presumably, have to pay taxes on her gift income. So, how would I organize and run an online auction to raise money for her?
I don’t know where to do the auction. There are PHP/SQL-based auction solutions that could be installed on your own web server if you’re tech savvy or know someone who is.
But I do want to make a tax point. Gift tax is paid by the giver, not the receiver. And paying medical costs is one of the exceptions that permits more than the $12,000 annual limit per giver. On the other hand, you’d want to make sure that your auction plans meet the definition of a gift, since it sounds like there’s an exchange of value.