topic Donation deductions in Deductions & credits

Donation deductions

jbergo — Mon, 25 May 2020 23:34:35 GMT

I manage a "for Profit" thrift store. A customer made a donation and would like me to sign a paper acknowledging that her donations are worth $90,000. I think her estimated value seems inflated. We are a very small business and our yearly sales are roughly $30,000 at best. I'm scared to sign something that acknowledges that we received $90,000 dollars worth of items when that is triple of our yearly sales. Will I get in trouble with the IRS or trigger an audit if i sign the paper?

Thank you for taking the time to read/answer my question.

John

Re: Donation deductions

DoninGA — Mon, 25 May 2020 23:50:36 GMT

Request that the customer provide you an appraisal from a certified appraiser of the items being donated before you do anything.

Re: Donation deductions

jbergo — Tue, 26 May 2020 00:09:14 GMT

Thank you very much for your help. below is going to be my response to the customer. what do you think?

Hi Paula,

I talked to an accountant who said that I would need to request that you provide us an appraisal from a certified appraiser of the items donated before we could sign off on the value of your donated items because, by law " we cannot tell you what your donated items are worth". This is something you must do yourself. Therefore I cannot legally sign anything stating the value of your donations. I can only sign something stating that you did donate the specific items.

Re: Donation deductions

DoninGA — Tue, 26 May 2020 00:25:35 GMT

@jbergo That appears to be an appropriate response.