Fortunately, the Salvation Army makes it easy to assign a cash value to donated items. The organization’s Donation Value Guide helps determine the approximate tax-deductible value of commonly donated belongings, including both low and high estimates. The Donation Value Guide includes cash value information for appliances, children’s clothing, furniture, household goods, men’s clothing, miscellaneous and women’s clothing. The most commonly donated property items are clothing and household items.

• To prevent this, the IRS tightened the rules on valuing household donations in 2005.
• We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers.
• The degree of similarity between the property sold and the donated property.
• An appraisal may require the combined use of two or three methods rather than one method only.

While this can be a simple list, it is generally a good idea to itemize each deductible donation and its dollar value. Regardless, make sure to provide a complete inventory of each item this donation consists of. If you do not have enough room, you may either use your editing program to add more lines or you may use this area to refer to an attachment listing the donated items. Use the Donation Value Guide to help determine the approximate tax-deductible value of items commonly donated to The Salvation Army Family Thrift Stores. All donations of appliances, electronics and equipment assumed to be working, and all clothing and furniture donations in good condition. You may not take a charitable contribution deduction for fees you pay for appraisals of your donated property.

Non-Cash Charitable Contribution template

Generally, this means your deduction is the lesser of the property’s FMV or its basis. You donate a used car in poor condition to a local high school for use by students studying car repair. A used car guide shows the dealer retail value for this type of car in poor condition is $1,600. However, the guide shows the price for a private party sale of the car is only $750. Since many kinds of hobby collections may be the subject of a charitable donation, it is not possible to discuss all of the possible collectibles in this publication. Most common are rare books, autographs, sports memorabilia, dolls, manuscripts, stamps, coins, guns, phonograph records, and natural history items. Many of the elements of valuation that apply to paintings and other objects of art, discussed earlier, also apply to miscellaneous collections.

If you deliver, without any conditions, a properly endorsed stock certificate to a qualified organization or to an agent of the organization, the date of the contribution is the date of delivery. If the certificate is mailed and received through the regular mail, it is the date of mailing. If you give used clothing to the Salvation Army, the FMV would be the price that typical buyers actually pay for clothing of this age, condition, style, and use. Usually, such items are worth far less than what you paid for them. This publication does not discuss how to figure the amount of your deduction for charitable contributions or written records and substantiation required. AppraisalsDeduction over $500 for certain clothing or household items. Thrift stores – check out your local Salvation Army stores or other local thrift shops to find parts of a costume you need.

Salvation Army Donation Guidelines: Tax Deduction

The following are examples of information that should be included in a description of donated property. Appraisals of art objects—paintings in particular—should include all of the following. If the only interest you own in real property is a remainder interest and you transfer part of that interest to a qualified organization, see the previous discussion on valuation of a remainder interest in real property. For qualified charitable transfers, you can use the factor for Salvation Army Thrift Store Donation Value Guide the month in which you made the contribution or for either of the 2 months preceding that month. Although there were no sales of Blue Corporation stock on the valuation date, bona fide bid and asked prices were available on that date of $14 and $16, respectively. The FMV is $15, the average price between the bid and asked prices. Then you weight these averages in inverse order by the respective number of trading days between the selling dates and the valuation date.

It’s starts your move off on the right foot – There’s nothing worse than a house full of clutter. For those of you with https://turbo-tax.org/ a bit of a hoarding tendency, we know that letting go of items – even if you don’t use them – can be difficult.

In addition to tax reasons, why else should I donate to the Salvation Army?

The IRS suggests that artwork valued at over $5,000 should be appraised, and you must have the item appraised if it’s worth $20,000 or more. Be sure to get a receipt from the charity when you donate your goods — again, for your personal records. The nonprofit won’t put a dollar value on the receipt, but the paperwork will help you prove that you did, indeed, donate the property if the IRS asks. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy.

Also, sales of stock under unusual circumstances, such as sales of small lots, forced sales, and sales in a restricted market, may not represent the FMV. There are a number of problems in determining the FMV of donated property. At the time of the gift, the promoter was selling similar lots of bibles for either $10,000 or $30,000.

The Salvation Army

Within the general category of literary property, there are dealers who specialize in certain areas, such as Americana, foreign imports, bibles, and scientific books. The book is a third edition and is in poor condition because of a missing back cover. You discover that there was a sale for $300, near the valuation date, of a first edition of the book that was in good condition. Although the contents are the same, the books are not at all similar because of the different editions and their physical condition.

The comparable selling prices must be adjusted to account for differences between the sale property and the donated property. If you claim a deduction of $20,000 or more for donations of art, you must attach a complete copy of the signed appraisal to your return. For individual objects valued at $20,000 or more, a photograph of a size and quality fully showing the object, preferably an 8 x 10 inch color photograph or a high-resolution digital image, must be provided upon request. The cost of the property to you or the actual selling price received by the qualified organization may be the best indication of its FMV.

At the time of her donation, wholesale dealers were selling similar quantities of bibles to the general public for $10,000. Unless you can show that there were unusual circumstances, it is assumed that the increase or decrease in the value of your donated property from your cost has been at a reasonable rate.

• For more information on the Offer in Compromise program, go to IRS.gov/OIC.
• Most Salvation Army locations and Goodwill Centers do not accept building materials as a donation.
• Your qualifying tax deductible donations are resold through our Salvation Army Family Store and serve to fund our programs in the greater High Point area.
• Using sales of comparable property is an important method for determining the FMV of donated property.
• For preferred stock, the most important factors are its yield, dividend coverage, and protection of its liquidation preference.
• A lot of variables exist in this category, particularly for furniture.

To help estimate the value of your donation you can check out theSalvation Army Guide, IRS Guide orGoodwill Valuation Guide. To furnish 2,600 homes a year, Household Goods requires a steady supply of good quality furniture and household items. Even with donated goods and volunteer time, it takes $200 to turn one empty apartment into a real home.