Done this for years but never liked how I did it. I get that this is driven by the IRS but Intuit help does not even align with their own product. Their help section says the most common way to assign value to charitable donations is "fair market value". Sounds great, but when entering charitable donations (items) into TT, FMV is not one of the offered means to assign value.
- Appraisal
- Average Share Price
- Catalog
- Capitalization of Income (whatever that means)
- Comparative sales
- Consignment shop values
- Present Value
- Replacement cost new
- Reproduction cost less depreciation
- Thrift Shop Value
Based on this list I'm never sure which one to use. Is it critical? I'm sure it's not but my OCD brain wants to always do this correctly.
A couple of scenarios:
- I buy something new at the store and immediately donate it (ex. new dog food donated directly to the animal shelter). How is the value assessed? "Present value"?
- I donate used books to the library for resale..."Thrift Shop Value"
Needed to get that off my chest...but interested on what other folks do.
Thanks
