Donating items to Charity - Tax Deduction

[dullard]

Simple question. I'm donating a bunch of winter clothes and christmas decorations to charity. I'm doing it for the tax deduction of course. I ran each item through software that estimates the donation value and I'm going to cut that amount in half to be realistic.

But, is my printout from that software sufficient evidence that I donated that stuff? Or do places like Goodwill give itimized receipts for donations?

I've never done this before.

 

[Zach]

They will provide a receipt if you ask.

 

[SoulAssassin]

it's usually a fill it out yourself and be honest type of thing

 

[kranky]

They won't write up an itemized receipt.

What I do is take a digipic of the pile of clothes laid out on the floor, in case of an audit. I do claim the full value given by "It's Deductible" software. So I have the software to substantiate the value, the receipt from the charity showing I made a donation, and the photo to prove what I donated.

 

[dquan97]

goodwill gives out receipts upon request. You'd need a receipt from the charity for value over $250 that contains the description and good-faith estimate of the value of the goods.

 

[dullard]

Thanks everyone. Next question. Which charity? They are both close to me. Goodwill is for employment of handicapped people. What does Salvation Army do?

Originally posted by: kranky
They won't write up an itemized receipt.

What I do is take a digipic of the pile of clothes laid out on the floor, in case of an audit. I do claim the full value given by "It's Deductible" software. So I have the software to substantiate the value, the receipt from the charity showing I made a donation, and the photo to prove what I donated.

That's the software I used. I found the 2005 version for free and figured it would be close enough. But there is no way an old T-shirt in poor condition will go for $2 here. $1 is realistic. So I just want to be honest.