Tax time tip: Values of donations

Taxes are due very soon and I definitely need to get started on mine. I don’t do them myself (I worry I would miss something), but there are still a lot of things to gather, print, call for, etc. I don’t want to forget things from year to year, so of course I created several checklists. The first is my (Tax checklist form) which lists all the things I need to do for tax preparation each year. Feel free to edit it for your family’s needs and the money management software you use.

Another great resource is a Valuation Guide. This tells approximate values for things you might donate to Good Will or the Salvation Army. By recording this information you can take an honest deduction based on what you have donated. I have a Donations to Goodwill chart that I record on each time I make a drop-off at one of these types of sites. I record the item type, name, quantity and estimated value. I then total the values at the bottom. When it is tax time, I add all of these forms up to determine the total value of my non-cash donations for the year on my Total for nonmonetary donations for the year form.

Here are all three forms to make your tax preparation easier:

∞ Tax checklist form

∞ Valuation Guide

∞ Donations to Goodwill chart

∞ Total for nonmonetary donations for the year

For more helpful tips on doing your taxes (either on your own or through an accountant), check out these related articles: 

• LearnVest’s section on taxes (learnvest.com)
• Taxes and your donation (goodwill.org)
• Video: How to Estimate the Value of Clothing for IRS Deductions (turbotax.intuit.com)