How much of a tax deduction per bag of clothes donated to charity?

[frannn]

I have a bunch of large lawn sized trash bags filled with used children's clothes I wish to donate. I can either give them to my SIL (who works in a school and can give away), or call an agency like Big Brother/Big Sister, and ask them to bring some receipt type slips. Of course, it would be quicker & easier to give to SIL. How much of a deduction do they usually give you for each bag of clothes? The stuff is close to new, and includes some designer stuff. I seem to remember getting a preprinted slip with the deduction amount in the past, but that was a long time ago. Is it worthwhile? Its getting donated either way.

 

[mrsklamc]

It's per item, not per bag, so to itemize you'd need to go through and itemize each thing. Should be able to find a chart by googling.

 

[jlima]

I have a bunch of large lawn sized trash bags filled with used children's clothes I wish to donate. I can either give them to my SIL (who works in a school and can give away), or call an agency like Big Brother/Big Sister, and ask them to bring some receipt type slips. Of course, it would be quicker & easier to give to SIL. How much of a deduction do they usually give you for each bag of clothes? The stuff is close to new, and includes some designer stuff. I seem to remember getting a preprinted slip with the deduction amount in the past, but that was a long time ago. Is it worthwhile? Its getting donated either way.

The tax deductible value is the resale/thrift store value. It doesn't matter what you paid for it; if it's new with tags or old and worn - you can deduct the resale value only. And it's per item, not per bag of clothing. I would go to a thrift store and make a brief pass and write down what items sell for. Then count or estimate how many pieces you have and do the math, and that's what you can deduct.

Good luck!

 

[dunningdisney]

taxact.com and turbotax have a calculator to itemize each item--it gives you a price we used it this year and it was great had a nice itemized receipt with pricing you do not need to file with them to use this feature

 

[sameyeyam]

Here is the page from the IRS website. Just click on the Used Clothing, under "Valuation of Various Kinds of property". http://www.irs.gov/publications/p561/ix01.html It must be in good or better condition. Basically they say "whatever the thrift or consignment shop value woud be".

I take deductions on my tax return every year and basically I figure $5 for each pair of pants, $3 for each shirt, maybe $1-$2 for each piece of infant/small child clothing, $2 for shoes, $5 for coats, etc. I usually give to Goodwill and they give a blank receipt. I then write my info. on that for my records...example 10 pairs of pants x $5 = $50. So I have detail in case of an audit.