What category is cat food donated to a local 501c3 rescue?

[jshumko]

None of the categories listed in "Choose a category for this donation" seem to apply.

[Vanessa A]

It would be listed as an item.  After you enter the rescue name select Item and then enter the information for the cat food and costs. 

 Donations are only able to be claimed if you itemize your return.  

Itemized expenses include mortgage interest, state and local taxes up to $10,000, medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your AGI, charitable donations and casualty and losses in excess of 10% of you AGI with the first $100 not counting towards the loss.  Your health insurance and all medical expenses are only deductible for the amount that is over 7.5% of your AGI.  This means if your AGI is $50,000, then the amount that is over $3,750 is deductible.  

Then your total itemized expenses would need to be greater than your standard deduction below in order to benefit from your donations.

The 2024 Standard Deductions are as follows:

• Married Filing Joint (MFJ)              $29,200
• Married Filing Separate (MFS)      $14,600
• Head of Household (HOH)             $21,900 
• Single                                                 $14,600       

Standard versus Itemized Deduction
 

[jshumko]

Household items? Even that doesn't make sense, but I guess if the IRS thinks it's ok, I will pick that.  Thank you.

Edit:  I just now saw an answer to someone else's question about purchasing dog food from Chewy.  I guess I should have been more specific in my question.  I purchased the cat food from Amazon and it was shipped directly to the rescue.  All of the receipts are in my Amazon account.  I guess I can just add them all up and deduct it as money?  Would be a lot easier to record it.  Also, because of my other deductions, my itemized deduction is larger than standard.

[Vanessa A · Accepted solution]

Items include Clothes, Furniture, Cars, Etc.  This category covers most things that are not money, stocks or mileage.  Since you did not send the rescue money, it would not be considered a monetary donation, it would be considered an item.  

When you go through the items section, you should be able to enter a description of the item and that is where you would enter cat food. Regardless of the type of items, it will end up going on line 12 on Schedule A. Cash donations go on line 11 of Schedule A. 

It is not advisable to lump it all together as a single donation valued at more than $250, you will need to have written acknowledgement from the rescue stating that you did make the donation.