Charitable Contribution Section

[pelkman]

This new section in turbo tax appears to be totally messed up.  Requiring information not available or necessary for stock donations (like appraisal value and information).  This entire section is totally messed up.

[DawnC]

Are you entering the donation in the charitable contributions section, under Deductions and Credits?   Are you using the desktop version or TurboTax Online?  What did you select for type of donation on the entry screen?

Is your donation over $500 - Form 8283 is required for non-cash donations over $500?

[pelkman]

Hi Dawn,

I am using the desktop version of TurboTax. Yes, the charitable contribution section in federal deductions. I have done this many times before, but I’ve never had it asking me all these different questions. Even though I know I need to complete form 8283, it’s asking me for the original purchase value (in addition to value at time of donation) of clothes and household items that I’m donating. It’s never required that information before. Also in another instance where I’m donating stock and I put the current.and purchase values, it’s asking me for the appraised value along with the appraiser’s name and address. It has never asked for this type of information before. It’s requiring much more information that is not available than it ever required previously. 

[DaveF1006]

No, it is not your imagination. TurboTax has significantly increased its reporting requirements for the 2025 tax year. This change is driven by stricter IRS enforcement of Form 8283 requirements and new rules under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) passed in 2025.

The IRS is essentially using tax software to "force" taxpayers to provide information that was technically always required by law but often ignored in the past.

[pelkman]

Thanks Dave, but this is information that is nonexistent and irrelevant for these examples. Who remembers how much they originally paid for clothes that they donate and have collected over multiple years?  And there is no such thing as an appraised value of stock. There’s the current value on the date that you donate it and there’s the original purchase price. This is going require me to use a CPA (or possibly fill out paper forms myself) instead of using TurboTax so Intuit is going start losing business.

[baldietax]

you would use a different valuation method for stock, the help guidance suggests FMV not the appraisal method.

as for the rest, looks like it's been updated for compliance with what IRS is now asking for - if your donations require a CPA that's not really anything Turbotax can do anything about.

[pelkman]

I used the average share value option… I will try changing it and see if that resolves the issue. Thank you for the tips… Much appreciated!

[Gary97531]

I have not been able to open the tax year 2025 Turbo Tax charitable deductions section yet; Turbo Tax says it is still under construction.  But reviewing IRS 2025 Form 8283, it looks essentially the same as 2024 for donations of clothes and household items where the individual item (or group of similar items, as the Form  says) have a fair market value of less than $500.00  If your prior donations were below this level, and your current donations are above this level, that may be the reason Turbo Tax is asking about purchase price, etc.  Form 8283 requires the purchase price for items valued above $500; this is not new.  So what could be driving all this is not Turbo Tax itself (or the IRS) but the size of your donations.  

[pelkman]

Thank you.  I just don't see how they can expect us to know the purchase price of 5 large trash bags full of clothes and other household items that were purchased over multiple years.

[RogerD1]

The IRS has guidance on Determining the value of donated property in Publication 561

As an example, here is the guidance on used clothing:  "Used clothing and other personal items are usually worth far less than the price you paid for them. Valuation of items of clothing does not lend itself to fixed formulas or methods.

The price that buyers of used items actually pay in used clothing stores, such as consignment or thrift shops, is an indication of the value.

You cannot take an income tax charitable contribution deduction for an item of clothing unless it is in good used condition or better. An item of clothing that is not in good used condition or better for which you claim   an income tax charitable contribution deduction of more than $500 requires a qualified appraisal and a completed Form 8283. See Deduction over $500 for certain clothing or household items, later."

If making large donations of household goods and clothing, it would be be best to have those items evaluated prior to the donation for tax reporting purposes.

Some charitable organizations also have helpful guides on valuation of goods and clothing,

Please be sure to get receipts for large donations of items.  Donations exceeding $500 of clothing do need reported on Form 8283, while donations exceeding $5000 will require a qualified appraisal.  Per the IRS:  "If the value of the donated property exceeds $5,000, the donor must get a qualified appraisal for contributions of property (other than money or publicly traded securities). The donee organization is not a qualified appraiser for the purpose of valuing the donated property." 

Edited 3/18/2026, 8:11 AM PDT, @pelkman @sjabrams @Gary97531 

[pelkman]

Thank you.  Yes, I have located Thrift Store FMV guides.  I am referring to the cost basis.  If I donated 5 large trash bags of clothes which I purchased over multiple years, it's impossible to know the cost basis without just estimating and making sure to use a conservative (i.e., low) cost basis.

[sjabrams]

Please note that the IRS publication also says, "Deduction over $500 for certain clothing or household items. You must include with your return a qualified appraisal prepared by a qualified appraiser of any single item of clothing or any household item that is not in good used condition or better and for which you deduct more than $500."

This refers to single items over $500. You're saying the IRS wants appraisals and detailed info when someone donates dozens of pieces of clothing or other household items, purchased over many years, each now worth $5, $10, maybe $50 at most? I used Deductible Duck to enter my donations (now that ItsDeductible is gone), and it says the $500 rule only applies to single items worth that much or more. Why doesn't TurboTax abide by this?

[Gary97531]

You make a good point about Turbo Tax.  I assume Turbo Tax is making some simplified assumptions in order to reduce the complexity of its software.  When you donate a mink stole worth $600 on X date to Y organization, Turbo Tax wants the detailed info you describe (and the IRS requires it).  When you donate 20 items of clothing, each worth $30, on X date to Y organization, the IRS does not require the detailed information, but Turbo Tax does.  And then supplying that information is problematic, as it asks for date acquired, when in fact the 20 items were probably acquired on 20 separate dates.  A simple work-around that satisfies both the IRS and Turbo Tax is to make sure you don't donate more than $500 worth of a group of similar items to a single organization on a single day.  When reporting the donations in Turbo Tax, you will list each separate donation of a group of similar items to a single organization on a single day (valued at less than $500) and Turbo Tax will not ask for the detailed info, nor will it be required by the IRS.  Any single item that has a value of more than $500 should be listed separately, as the detailed info will be required by the IRS and Turbo Tax for that donation. 

[Gary97531]

On January 14, the date of your posting, Turbo Tax was messed up.  Turbo Tax later updated its software so that the information being requested was the same as for 2024.  That said, as I and others have noted, Turbo Tax continues to have a simplified assumption (aka an "error") regarding groups of similar items for which the value exceeds $500 but for which no individual item exceeds $500 in value.  And if you think about it, the Turbo Tax software makes no sense.  The IRS wants detailed information if  you donate a single piece of clothing worth $600.  Does the IRS want that same information if you donate 30 shirts each with a value of $20?  No.  But Turbo Tax requires it, if you report all 30 items as a single donation.  

[Gary97531]

I don't think DaveF's explanation turned out to be correct (although it was a reasonable inference based on the information available at the time).  The problem was that Turbo Tax had not yet finished this part of its 2025 software as of Jan. 14, 2026.  Once Turbo Tax updated it, the software worked the same as in 2024.  So it was not the OBBBA that was driving the $500 problem.