Q - I own a building that I rent to a non profit organization for $500/month. If I decide to lower the rent to $400/month, can I ask for a receipt stating I gave the organization $100/month as a donation and use that for a tax deduction?
A - Basically, no.
In order to claim a charitable deduction of the $100, you would have to report $500 in income. The IRS would look at your situation as a wash transaction: it is as though you received the full $500 in rent, and then turned around and donated $100 in a separate transaction.
The situation could even be worse by recognizing the contribution if you do not itemize deductions: you would be reporting the full $500 in rent and you wouldn't be able to deduct the charitable contribution because you didn't itemize.
The IRS only recognizes gifts of property as charitable contributions, not gifts of services or gifts of the partial use of property.
