Would it be beneficial to itemize?

Question

My husband is in the Army and we have no children. We make around $25,000 a year, and file jointly. I've been trying to sell off some furniture that we have (all in great shape), but have not been successful... if i took all of this furniture to Goodwill and got a receipt would it benefit us at all come tax time?

Answer 1

As a general rule, unless you own a house and are paying on a mortgage, you probably won't have enough deductions to itemize.

I have only seen a couple of returns where this person/couple was able to itemize without owning a home.

Note: Some states will allow you to deduct charitable contributions on the state return even if you do not itemize on the federal.

Answer 2

You'll get a standard deduction on a joint return of $10,700. Unless your itemized deductions are more than that, you wouldn't itemize.

Note that the deduction for a contribution of property is the current used value of the items, not the original price.

Answer 3

Maybe, you would have to see if all of your itemized deductions added up to more then your standard deduction. Do you own your own home have mortgage interest and property taxes? If so, it will probably help some.

Answer 4

Donating to a charity does help. Itemizing only works if you have more then the standard deductions. Medical bills( must be more then 7.5% of your salary) and dry cleaning uniforms and work related items also help. My husband's job requires him to have black shoes, dark socks and a watch. We deduct these items

Answer 5

your itemized deductions would have to exceed the standard deduction for married - joint, which is about 10,700 - with a salary of 25000, you probably don't have enough deductions to itemize so those donations won't help you tax-wise