Rules for Donating Clothing and Household Items

To be deductible, clothing and household items donated to charity generally must be in good used condition or better.

A clothing or household item for which a taxpayer claims a deduction of over $500 does not have to meet this standard if the taxpayer includes a qualified appraisal of the item with the return. Household items include furniture, furnishings, electronics, appliances and linens.

A receipt from the Charitable Organization is A MUST, so don't just drop off the "goods" and expect to take the donation.

IRS is even getting more strict on HOW you must document these items. The following rules apply to charitable donation receipts:

1. The name of the Charitable Organizaion must be listed on the Receipt
2. The date and location of the contribution
3. A description of (but not necessarily a value for) the property "in detail
reasonably sufficient under the circumstances". The charity must write this description in

Also on any receipt with a donation value of $250 or more, the Charity need to include the statement "no goods or services were rendered in return for the donation"

Taking pictures of the goods before giving them away, is also very helpful.

This may seem like a lot of useless work, however, the Charitable Contribution is one of the few really good deductions we have left, and it is well worth the effort.

Charities are notorious for not giving receipts. It is easy for people just to dump the bags at the drop off, but I think we need to make those charities conduct business in the proper manner to help all involved.

Below is a link to Salvation Army, open it up then click on "Donation Value Guide". This is a great tool for valuing the items you donate.

www.satruck.org

Also, for Charitable Planning use this link: http://www.pgdc.com/host/planned-giving-design-center-llc/overview

On our website www.sherwoodqualitytax.com, if you will click on the "Links" tab at the bottom of the page, there is a whole page of unique links to find helpful information.


Sincerely, Deborah Sherwood, EA