@maningasma wrote:
Thank you Opus17, that was my interpretation as well and have been doing it for years. We were audited 5 years ago and the agent did ask about how we procured the goods for our donations. We told her that we bought everything but didn’t have receipts to prove it or prove that we owned it for at least 12 months. She didn’t pursue it and may have extended some grace along with the fact it would have been more effort on the IRS than it was worth. We walked away with no change for our 2015-2017 returns (very thankful). Ever since then, we make sure our donation runs stay under $500 and take pictures of everything. I wonder how many others agree/disagree with our opinion.
Making individual runs under $500 doesn't change the requirements if the total is more than $500.
What you need is your own written inventory that lists the purchase date, purchase price, donation date, claimed value, and a description of the item with enough detail to determine the value. For purchase date and price, you can use your best guess, and you will rarely need receipts or other proof except in the case of unusual or special items. As long as your list of donated items is written down close to the time of the donation, while your memory is freshest, you should rarely encounter problems.
If you think you are likely to go over $5000, though, I would be more cautious. If you claim a total of 20 donations to Goodwill of $495 each ($9900), you could be reasonably asked if what you really did was make a single large donation that you split up to avoid the requirement of an appraisal, and whether "used household items and clothing" is really one group of "similar items" over $5000.
