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§ 21.4 BURDEN OF PROOF RULESA successor donee may be required to file this information return if it disposesof charitable deduction property within two years after the date of thedonor’s contribution to the original donee. A successor donee is any donee ofcharitable contribution property other than the original donee. 125§ 21.4 BURDEN OF PROOF RULESAs a general proposition, a taxpayer has the burden of proving the amount or valueof a charitable contribution that he, she, or it wants to be able to deduct. 126 Thus, forexample, a charitable contribution deduction for a gift of computer equipment andrelated lease rights to a school was denied because the donors failed to offer anyevidence of the transactions or the value of the contributed items. 127 A claimed charitablecontribution deduction may be denied when the ostensible donor cannot provideadequate proof of the gifts. 128 In some instances, a court, convinced that acharitable gift occurred, will estimate the amount or value involved. 129As part of this responsibility, it is incumbent upon donors to prove that thedonee organizations are in fact charitable in nature. Thus, as an illustration,amounts contributed to an entity were held not deductible as charitable contributionsbecause the donors did not prove that the entity qualified as a charitableorganization. 130125 Ann. 88-120, 1988-38 I.R.B. 27. In general, see Lyon, Donee Acknowledgment on Form 8283—Who ShouldSign?, 8 Exempt Org. Tax Rev. (no. 2) 264 (1993); Transcript of the Spring ABA EO Committee Meeting—Panel One: Valuation and Appraisal Issues, 8 Exempt Org. Tax Rev. (no. 1) 65 (1993).126 See, e.g., Guest v. Commissioner, 77 T.C. 9 (1981); Lamphere v. Commissioner, 70 T.C. 391 (1978). This principleof law is a subset of the larger point that all tax deductions are a matter of legislative grace and that theclaimant bears the burden of proving entitlement to any of them. Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111 (1933). Seealso Dorris v. Commissioner, 76 T.C.M. (CCH) 423 (1998).127 Brown v. Commissioner, 72 T.C.M. (CCH) 139 (1995); Daniel v. Commissioner, 74 T.C.M. (CCH) 151(1997); Short v. Commissioner, 73 T.C.M. (CCH) 2937 (1997); Roman v. Commissioner, 73 T.C.M. (CCH)2375 (1997).128 Aldea v. Commissioner, 79 T.C.M. (CCH) 1917 (2001); Jennings v. Commissioner, 80 T.C.M. (CCH) 783(2000), aff’d in unpublished opinion (6th Cir. 2001).129 This is an application of the Cohan rule: Cohan v. Commissioner, 39 F.2d 540 (2d Cir. 1930). As an example,an individual contributed clothing to a school and claimed a charitable deduction of $1,000; the IRS determinedthat the deduction should be $353; the court allowed a deduction for $500. Cavalaris v. Commissioner,72 T.C.M. (CCH) 46 (1996).130 Zeidler v. Commissioner, 71 T.C.M. (CCH) 2603 (1996). See also Taylor v. Commissioner, 79 T.C.M. (CCH)1364 (2000). 603