When downsizing, we donated a lot of items to charity. Our deductions this year may max out. Can we defer and claim the donation deductions on next year’s taxes?

[Opus 17]

Donations are only deductible in the year made.

If your donation of non-cash items is more than 60% of your AGI, your deduction is limited and the remainder will automatically carry forward to next year.  But you can't choose to carry your deductions forward, it either will or won't be required based on the type of donation and the type of exempt organization you donated to.  And you must list the donation in the year actually made, and see if you hit one of the limits. 

Also beware, you can't claim a deduction of more than $5000 for a single item or "group of similar items" unless you have a signed appraisal, and you get a financially responsible officer of the charity and the appraiser to sign a copy of form 8283 confirming the donation, which you have to mail to the IRS after e-filing the rest of your return.    There is no specific guidance on what constitutes a "group of similar items", but certainly, "used household goods", "used clothing", and "used furniture" could be 3 reasonable groups.  Without an appraisal, your deduction is limited to $5000 per group of similar items, no matter how valuable they were. 

[TomBec]

Four questions:

I donated our piano to a 501(c)3, for which we have an unsigned online appraisal of $1,500 and receipt from the non-profit.

1. How do I enter this into Its Deductible, which limits me to $500?

2. Should I send a copy of the appraisal after e-filing?

3. Can I safely include additional item donations of up to $5,000 in each of the following 3 categories: clothing, furniture and books? 

4. I mistakenly entered the wrong year (2020, when it should be 2021) for a list of item donations.  How do I edit the date to move them from 2020 to 2021 without having to reenter all the items?

Thank you for your assistance.

[Opus 17]

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@TomBec wrote:

Four questions:

I donated our piano to a 501(c)3, for which we have an unsigned online appraisal of $1,500 and receipt from the non-profit.

1. How do I enter this into Its Deductible, which limits me to $500?

2. Should I send a copy of the appraisal after e-filing?

3. Can I safely include additional item donations of up to $5,000 in each of the following 3 categories: clothing, furniture and books? 

4. I mistakenly entered the wrong year (2020, when it should be 2021) for a list of item donations.  How do I edit the date to move them from 2020 to 2021 without having to reenter all the items?

Thank you for your assistance.

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1&2. You can't enter items over $500 in ItsDeductible.  Simply enter it directly in Turbotax after importing the rest of your ItsDeductible donations.  You don't need to send the appraisal for an item worth less than $5000, but keep it with your other important tax papers for at least 3 years. 

3. Possibly, however, I have never seen a Tax Court case or audit manual that would explain clearly how the IRS considers the issue of "a group of similar items," so I can't give a definitive answer.

4. Unfortunately using ItsDeductible, you can't just move from one year to the other, you have to delete them and re-enter them.

I personally don't use ItsDeductible.  It actually provides no protection in an audit, because the examiner can ask you to prove that the value claimed by ItsDeductible was actually valid for your specific items in your part of the country.  I make my own inventory of items, and list values based on thrift store prices, and then just enter it once directly in Turbotax. (April 4, Goodwill, mixed clothing and household items, $50) etc.