how to put a value on donated clothes

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
November 19, 2025
2 replies
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TurboTax Online

Best answer by Opus 17

Expert Reviewed

You need values that are reasonable fair market value for those kinds of used items in the condition they are in (good/fair/poor) for your region. You may be able to get value by looking in local thrift stores and see how they mark similar items. For specialty items, you might look at eBay.

Opus 17

Answer

Level 15

Expert Reviewed

M-MTax

Level 15

You can try an ItsDeductible replacement, such as Deductible Duck.

See https://deductibleduck.com

Opus 17

Level 15

It is worth pointing out that even if you use a service like ItsDeductible or any of its replacements, if you are unlucky enough to get audited, the IRS can ask that you prove that the "national" values from the service are actually reasonable for your specific items in your specific location. Over the years there have been a couple discussions on this board from people who were audited and the IRS denied their ItsDeductible values because they didn't have local proof. It would be a good idea to compare local prices with whatever service you use to make sure they are in alignment.

M-MTax

Level 15

It's also worth pointing out that valuation was not generally the issue in some of the audits but, rather, lack of documentation that the donation was actually what the taxpayer claimed it to be.

It is thus wise to document each item with written and photographic evidence. Otherwise, the valuations tend to be fairly accurate.