Will be making a series of donations (clothes, etc.) to a charity thrift store, what are the tax consequences?
Question:
Attach IRS Form 8283 to your return, giving the name & address of the recipient organization, a description of the property contributed, the date the property was acquired, how the property was acquired & its fair market value if the gift's value is over $500.
But that seems to apply if a single item is worth $500. What if I donate 50 collectable items each worth 10.00 bucks? Is this per donation or in a single day? I.e. should I limit each days donation to 499.00 and come back the next day?
As for how acquired, etc. These are things that I have long-sense thrown recipts away and have acquired anywhere from garage sales to stores. Do I have to really answer for every item in the batch? Will a pic & itemized inventory work?
Please CPA's or experts in this field only respond. Thanks!
Answer:
Form 8283 is required if the total of all noncash gifts to charity is more than $500. So you cannot avoid Form 8283 by making a series of donations each with value less than $500 if the total is more than $500 for the year.
Keep a record of each item donated, maybe in a spreadsheet, and attach it to Form 8283. You need the FMV for all items, not just the ones that are valued at over $500. If you give 10 dresses in one batch, you could group those items together. But other than that you need to itemize everything to ensure that your deduction is allowed.
Also keep receipts from the charity with dates that can be cross-checked with your spreadsheet.
Even if you gave several gifts, you'll be liable to provide the details of the gifts on the form you describe, if your total gift is over $500, even if you gave to many charities vs a single charity. It's not hard to get this type of receipt from charities, it just involves doing some record keeping on your part.
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