Question:
I have a business where I buy and sell. A have a decent amount of inventory that doesn’t really sell, and I would like to donate it towards a Jewish charity, that would either sell the items themselves or give them out to people who could use them.
Can I count my cost of the inventory towards my maaser obligation? Most of my inventory, I usually sell for at least several times the price of what I paid. So in some ways I would be donating stuff that is worth more than what I paid. But my question is, can at least the amount I paid count towards my maaser?
Answer:
The amount you can count for maaser is the value of the merchandise that you donated to the charity. |f the merchandise can’t sell at a higher price, then you can take off the price that it would actually sell for- that is it’s real value..
Sources:
Sefer Chasidim 321, R’ Y. Cahen shlit”a
