You make a good point about Turbo Tax. I assume Turbo Tax is making some simplified assumptions in order to reduce the complexity of its software. When you donate a mink stole worth $600 on X date to Y organization, Turbo Tax wants the detailed info you describe (and the IRS requires it). When you donate 20 items of clothing, each worth $30, on X date to Y organization, the IRS does not require the detailed information, but Turbo Tax does. And then supplying that information is problematic, as it asks for date acquired, when in fact the 20 items were probably acquired on 20 separate dates. A simple work-around that satisfies both the IRS and Turbo Tax is to make sure you don't donate more than $500 worth of a group of similar items to a single organization on a single day. When reporting the donations in Turbo Tax, you will list each separate donation of a group of similar items to a single organization on a single day (valued at less than $500) and Turbo Tax will not ask for the detailed info, nor will it be required by the IRS. Any single item that has a value of more than $500 should be listed separately, as the detailed info will be required by the IRS and Turbo Tax for that donation.
