Deducting Donations

[amyjk]

if i donate boxes of cereal to a food bank that i paid $.50 each for (NOT free), can i claim the market value of the cereal, as in, $3.50, etc?

i know when clothes are donated to goodwill you can claim the VALUE of the item, not what you paid for it. would food be treated differently? or is it just food gotten free?

[llamalluv]

in order to take deductions for donations, you have to itemize your return. you dont take the standard deduction (single, married, etc) but instead you use the two page form for itemized deductions. on that form is the spot for donations. there is no percentage limit. but you cant itemize unless your itemized figure is more than your single/married deduciton.

oh and if you read mothernature's response she said "i think" . which means she is not for sure...she is guessing

Of course one must itemize to claim the charitable donation deduction. However, charitable donations are just one expense that can be deducted.

Regardless, that has nothing to do with this alleged 10% rule. And I did see where she said "I think", which is why I asked for a source of that information. I thought she might be confusing it with the medical deduction minimum.

[couponbillyice]

your tax man can answer all these q's

[couponbillyice]

You should be fine with those amounts though

[couponbillyice]

just stay away from H&R Block...lol

[motherofmolly]

just stay away from H&R Block...lol

h&r block is yucky. an employer of mine sent me to their class once. informative class and i learned alot, but they hired everyone who took the class. and i mean everyone. even that one person who you know had no clue and probably would never get one.

we used them once for a business return. never again. charged an outrageous amount for 5 forms. the next 3 years i did them myself.

my mom had me do her return. which i did. she then decided (this is how she is) that i didnt do them right so she went to h&r block and had them redone. she was excited because she was getting a bigger refund and i messed up. who do you think she called when she got that notice from the irs that her taxes were done wrong? me. and i told her to go back ot h&r that is who did her taxes and told her i would never do them again.

last year i heard talk that the govt was going to require licenses from paid tax professionals. they were hoping this would weed out the fly by night ones. i think this could help, if they required a test with it.

[motherofmolly]

if i donate boxes of cereal to a food bank that i paid $.50 each for (NOT free), can i claim the market value of the cereal, as in, $3.50, etc?

i know when clothes are donated to goodwill you can claim the VALUE of the item, not what you paid for it. would food be treated differently? or is it just food gotten free?

personally, i would go with $.50. you could use the higher market value, but remember if you have over $200 (if i remembered correctly it is early and i didnt get much sleep), you will need receipts.

no harm in asking the food bank for a receipt so you can right it off.

[omgzitsmiranda]

In order to to donations, you just get a deduction right? You don't get a *credit* therefore if your DH is on disability & you're self employeed it doesn't really help right? Because that's what H&R online said LOL. I would donate anyway, just not worry about the receipt :) But I was just wondering for my own knowledge.

[foggierbard9]

if i donate boxes of cereal to a food bank that i paid $.50 each for (NOT free), can i claim the market value of the cereal, as in, $3.50, etc?

i know when clothes are donated to goodwill you can claim the VALUE of the item, not what you paid for it. would food be treated differently? or is it just food gotten free?

No, it is Fair Market Value or what you paid...whichever is LOWER...you paid .50 a box, you can claim .50/box.

[vica]

del