Charitable donations and the $5,000

[grace4]

I am planning to donate 235 clothing items to a charity this week -- mostly suits, coats, dresses, work items -- using goodwill charts, it values to $4962 -- do I need a special receipt?

I still have other items I want to donate/empty house of but I do not want the $5,000 headache, which I am not sure what to do if my donations are that amount or more.  Can I donate the other items to a different charity or should I just wait until next year?  Is the cut-off of $5,000 per year or per charity?

Thank you!

[Critter · Accepted solution]

Nope you are OK since the total is less than $5K. 

[TaxGuyBill]

An contribution of $250 or more, you need a receipt that has the required information:
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p526#en_US_2016_publink1000229843">https://www.irs.gov/publications...>

Personally, I would also itemize everything that you are donating and take pictures of everything.

[grace4]

Thanks.  I always keep a record of every item, for sure.  And I can receive a standard, written receipt; that is what I was mostly wondering, if that is sufficient?  This is for a clothing/donations drive I set up at my work for veterans.  I could have them come to my home if I needed something different than their standard receipt.  Thank you again!

[SweetieJean]

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8283.pdf">https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8283.pdf</a>