Donate a compact tractor that came with the property and outlived the chores

Where donated compact tractors come from

Acreage owners who sold the acreage, or who cannot climb on it any more. A compact tractor is bought with ten acres and it goes when the ten acres or the knees do.

Estates. A compact tractor with a loader is frequently the most valuable machine on a small property and the easiest for a family to undervalue.

Small landscape and property maintenance businesses cycling equipment, and hobby farms that scaled up to a utility tractor and no longer need the small one.

One tilt-deck trailer

A compact tractor fits a tilt-deck or a drop-deck trailer, which is the least expensive equipment haul we do. Giving Center books and pays for it.

Tell us whether it starts and drives, and whether the loader raises. A tractor that drives on loads in minutes; one that will not start needs a winch and the driver has to know.

Send the implements. A box blade, a brush hog, a finish mower, forks or a tiller all fit on the same trailer at no extra cost, and a tractor with implements sells for meaningfully more than a bare one. Loose implements left behind almost always sell for less alone.

What decides what a compact tractor brings

• Loader. The single biggest factor. A compact tractor with a front loader is worth substantially more than the same tractor without one.
• Hours and engine. Read the meter and give us the real number. Diesel is the norm and buyers ask about it directly.
• Four-wheel drive. Standard expectation now, and a two-wheel-drive machine sells to a narrower pool.
• Implements included. Each one adds, and a complete package is what most buyers actually want.
• Tire type and condition. Turf, industrial or ag tread, and whether they hold air. Loader tractors are hard on front tires.

Makes we accept

This class is shopped almost entirely by brand and model number.

• Most common: Kubota B, L and MX series and BX subcompacts, John Deere 1, 2, 3 and 4 series and the older 750, 850 and 950, New Holland Workmaster and Boomer, Massey Ferguson GC and 1700 series.
• Also seen: Mahindra Max and 2600, Kioti CK and DK, LS MT series, TYM, Branson, Yanmar, Iseki, Case IH Farmall C, Bobcat and Cub Cadet compacts, Ford 1600 and 1900 series.
• Loaders and implements: Kubota LA and Deere H-series loaders, Woods, Land Pride, Bush Hog, King Kutter, Frontier, Rhino, Titan.

Manufacturer names appear here so you can find your own machine. No manufacturer sponsors, endorses or is affiliated with this program.

The paperwork, and what you can deduct

Farm equipment is not titled. Ownership is established with the purchase invoice, a bill of sale, a farm asset record, or a lien release if it was financed. Find the serial plate and photograph it; that number goes on the paperwork. If the machine is part of an estate or a farm partnership, whoever signs needs authority to sign for it.

Giving Center sells the tractor and your deduction is the gross sale proceeds, reported on Form 1098-C. It is not what you paid and it is not a dealer trade figure. A running compact tractor with a loader usually clears $5,000, which means the IRS requires a qualified appraisal and Form 8283 Section B. The appraisal is your expense and your decision, and the appraiser must be independent of us. Between $500 and $5,000 you file Section A and no appraisal is needed.

Most farm equipment is a depreciated business asset. That makes a conversation with your accountant genuinely worth having before the pickup, because farm business property follows different rules than a personal donation.