Can I just estimate the total value of all the items that I donated for tax deduction?

[catdelta]

At the beginning of this year, I donated many stuff to the Salvation Army.  There are so many items that I just put "Clothes - 3 bags - Nearly New", "Shoes - 2 bags - Nearly New", and so on.  None of any single item worth more than $500.  However, I certainly cannot remember how many clothes and pairs of shoes there were.

Under TurboTax, may I just input "Clothes, Books, Handbags, Shoes, etc" under "Description" and an aggregate estimated value of $3,300 with "Comparable Sales"?  Do I need to mail the Salvation Army receipt to the IRS?

If audited, what can I do to prove the value?  Quite a lot of the stuff were almost new anyway.

Thank you.

[DianeW · Accepted solution]

IRS Guidelines. If you itemize deductions on your federal tax return, you may be entitled to claim a charitable deduction for your Goodwill (or Salvation Army) donations. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a taxpayer can deduct the fair market value of clothing, household goods, used furniture, shoes, books and so forth.  

You can use reasonable values based on sales in a thrift store or by using "It's Deductible" shown here.  It's Deductible  This imports into TurboTax.

You must file Form 8283 if the amount of your deduction for all noncash gifts is more than $500. For this purpose, “amount of your deduction” means your deduction before applying any income limits that could result in a carryover. Make the entry for your noncash donations and TurboTax will automatically complete the Form 8283.

• IRS Guidelines and Information | Donating to Goodwill Stores

For any contribution of $250 or more (including contributions of cash or property), you must obtain and keep in your records a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the qualified organization indicating the amount of the cash and a description of any property contributed. 

The acknowledgment must say whether the organization provided any goods or services in exchange for the gift and, if so, must provide a description and a good faith estimate of the value of those goods or services. One document from the qualified organization may satisfy both the written communication requirement for monetary gifts and the contemporaneous written acknowledgment requirement for all contributions of $250 or more.

1. Sign into your TurboTax account
2. Select Federal tab on the left (or Personal tab or Federal Taxes tab desktop version)
3. In the search box, upper right, type noncash charitable contributions > jump to noncash charitable contributions
4. Continue to enter your noncash donations with name of organization and items
5. Click the images attached to enlarge and view.

[Rosalinda92]

15,000

[Rosalinda92]

35,000

[pbrown2]

ItsDeductible seems to have ridiculously low evaluations. $12.00 for an adult  mountain bike in perfect condition? 

[VictoriaD75]

The IRS is restrictive in its valuation of donations of goods for charitable contributions. You must use fair market value or thrift shop value for these types of goods. Information on valuing donated property can be found below.

Determining the Value of Donated Property