Mom's Estate

[Kermitrich]

me and my 3 siblings are the beneficiaries of my mom's estate.  My mom was retired and living on an income that does not required her to submit her taxes each year.  We donated some of her items to charity. Can we the beneficiaries write the donation off of our taxes?

[tagteam]

See https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/charitable-contribution-deduction...

If there was no 1041 filed, no provision for charitable donations under a will or governing instrument, and you each inherited a share of the personal effects, then each of you may be able to deduct the fair market value of the items donated on your individual income tax returns.

[Opus 17]

While it is generally true that you can take a tax deduction for the fair market value of the donated items as of the date of your mother‘s passing (or 1/4 for each sibling), you must follow the documentation and substantiation rules in IRS publication 526. This requires that you have, among other things, an itemized inventory of the donated items in sufficient detail to determine the value, and receipts from the charity. Also, you can’t claim a donation value more than $5000 (per sibling) unless you had the items appraised by a qualified appraiser, and you file a form 8283 with your tax return that includes the signature of the appraiser and the signature of a financially responsible representative of the charity that received the donation.  Without the appraisal and other documentation, the most you can claim is $5000, even if you believe the donated items were worth more.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf