Hi All...Any good tax strategies out there

[jazz4cash]

Foremost, don't forget to use tax software.  The questions will help prompt you for deductions.

Great point........I have used Turbo-Tax for several years, but I always blew through the "It's Deductible!" feature.  For non-cash charitable donations, I give a few bags of clothes to Goodwill every year and figure they are worth $15 per bag or whatever.......Now I try this "Its Deductible" and based on the contents and condition of the stuff inside, each bag is now worth $75-100!  (Remember Clinton and the underwear deduction?)  It's so much that I am scared to claim it without an itemized receipt which I will get Goodwill to initial from now on and maybe get digital pics too!

 

[LOL!]

My wife and daughter volunteer at a goodwill warehouse. They get to go through the stuff that gets donated. It turns out that most is in such bad condition that it is thrown away. My wife says that the clothes we actually keep and wear are in worse condition than the stuff they toss. That makes sense when you realize that we are wearing clothes donated to us from friends and family.

Another tax-saving tip is to donate appreciated stock to your charity. Our broker does not charge for this, so that saves a commission and saves the 15% capital gains tax. We do this with our very long term held shares that have the most unrealized capital gains.

 

[jazz4cash]

My wife and daughter volunteer at a goodwill warehouse.
They get to go through the stuff that gets donated.  It turns out that most is in such bad condition that it is thrown away.   

..............They don't tell IRS to disallow your deduction, do they?

 

[SecondCor521]

By the by, there is a new rule passed in the pension act this year that donations to charity, in order to be deductible, must be in "good or better condition". The definition of this is left to the reader, but for clothes, the rule of thumb I read was: "If you wouldn't wear it, you can't deduct it." (If you would wear it, why would you donate it?)

Anyway, just FYI. Contact your local CPA for real assistance.

2Cor521

 

[Khan]

By the by, there is a new rule passed in the pension act this year that donations to charity, in order to be deductible, must be in "good or better condition". The definition of this is left to the reader, but for clothes, the rule of thumb I read was: "If you wouldn't wear it, you can't deduct it." (If you would wear it, why would you donate it?)

Because you retired.
And lost weight.

 

[Nords]

"If you wouldn't wear it, you can't deduct it."

I've donated many fine oil-changing rags to our local Goodwill! They just have to be sold from the appropriate bin.

Add to the list of "why donate":
- Your kid outgrew it
- Someone changed their fashion mind
- You're living in a tropical climate and don't want to store that winter gear anymore
- And (my favorite reason that our kid's fashionista friends won't shop thrift stores): the deceased owner won't be using it anymore.