You can deduct the fair market value of the hearing aids under Deductions & Credits, Charitable Contributions in TurboTax. Although you may not be able to find it on the ItsDeductible app, you can record the donation directly into TurboTax. ItsDeductible will not allow a single item donation entry with a value of more than $500. It doesn't mean that you can't have a value over $500, only that ItsDeductible does not handle it. You can still use the TurboTax program to manually enter that item donation. Instructions (not from ItsDeductible) are below.
- Open (continue) your return in TurboTax.
- In the search box, search for donations and then select the "Jump to" link in the search results.
- Answer Yes to Did you make any donations to charity?
- Answer No to Do you have an account with ItsDeductible Online? You can still import other donations from the ItsDeductible app separately.
- On the next screen, answer Yes to enter your donations for 2017.
- Continue with the onscreen instructions.
The IRS has defined fair market value as:
Fair market value is the price at which property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither having to buy or sell, and both having a reasonable knowledge of all the relevant facts.
You can make a reasonable estimate of your items taking into account their state of use at the time you donated them. Any reasonable estimate would not likely be contested by the IRS. Please read this IRS document, particularly from page 10 for a discussion about fair market value:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf
Be aware that with a value of more than $500, additional recordkeeping requirements also come into play.
Specifically, review the recordkeeping requirements for "Deductions Over $500 But Not Over $5,000" in the publication link above.
