Tax credit for Goodwill donation?

Question

I recently made a donation of clothing to Goodwill, first time since the store in our town just opened a short time ago. What I got as a receipt was just a form that said I had donated two boxes of miscellaneous items, no dollar amount. The girl who took the boxes did not know how this works as far as a tax credit on an itemized income tax return. Does anyone know how they calculate the deduction when tax time comes around again?

Answer 1

My tax guy says to take a deduction of one dollar per item. If you look at the prices in used clothing stores, you can claim that with a straight face even without receipts.

Answer 2

You won't get a tax credit, you will get a tax deduction for the donation if you itemize your deductions. The amount of the deduction is very subjective, depending on what the items were. Two boxes of clothing might be $50 or so, depending on the size of the box.

Answer 3

You would need to have a receipt listing the particular items that you donated.

And it's not a tax credit, but is a deduction if you itemize. A credit comes off your taxes dollar for dollar. A deduction reduces your income that the tax is calculated on.

Answer 4

This will apply if you itemize. If you do not have a house and mortgage interest then don't even worry. Could worry but we highly doubt it and we are an accounting firm.

contributions are taken on Schedule A, Form 1040. Go to http://www.irs.gov and check it out. As I said though, without mortgage interest you may out of luck but may carry we suppose to next year and so on and so forth but you should read the rules first.

When in cases as such it is what we at times put down as such. Best guess estimate. Were the clothes all new were they used were there any value to them. Were they worth 500 are they worth how much you put down there. Are they worth what you tell Revenue. Will revenue believe you donated 20k worth of items when your income is only 50k. Will they believe it if your income is around 250k probably. Aka question is simple what is the stuff worth. Does DI or these places know that well no you they don't so why are they going to put that down on the reciept. Here's a receipt for 500.00 cause that is what they are worth (smiles)

P.S. yes we are an accounting firm. Yes we have seen the same 10k or more times. Yes we have seen receipts like this. Yes we have put down on forms best guess estimate considering deprection market value etc etc. Yes at times they questions, yes at times they accept. Not every situation will be the same. Link for IRS Type in search 1040 Schedule A or something to that affect and have fun reading.

One. We do not know 1. How much your income is. 2. How much items are wroth as donated property. 3. if you even qualify to even take the deduction at all. These are the facts. so we direct to what is the only logical thing to do. Go to IRS site and see. Or talk with accountant.

BC Business Services, Inc.
http://www.bcbsinc.com

Answer 5

it's not a tax credit, it's a non-cash charitable deduction on Schedule A - Itemized Deductions, and you have to attach another form if the non-cash donation exceeds $500.