Donating Clothes to Goodwill

Megalith

Megalith

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Anyone do this? I have a crapload of recent, good-quality clothing that I simply have no room for and do not have the patience to auction off.

Apparently you get a larger tax return if you donate to Goodwill. How does that work?
 
First off, the only way that donating to a charity will help your tax situation is if you itemize your deductions.

Goodwill will hand you a blank receipt, meaning the individual will have to determine the value of the items donated. If you are planning to deduct an amount on your tax return, I would suggest making a list of the items donated to keep with your records; in case you are ever audited.
 
In addition to keeping a list, look online (or ask your tax advisor or the place you are donating to) for a list of what items generally are worth. This will help you determine the value of what you have donated for deduction purposes.
 
I say just donate to a place that doesnt sell the clothes. I always give away my kids clothes to local churches, shelters etc. I would rather know what I donated is being given to people who need it. Also, I dont care to go through the trouble of the tax returns. Just a thought.
 
Yeah, I donate to the goodwill, battered women's shelter and other groups, some of them will actually come pick up the items from you like the Salvation Army and Northwest Center (mentally disabled charity, used to actually be called Northwest Center for the Retarded until a couple years ago).
 
just donate to donate. i dont know your situation, but i dont think a donation of clothes will make a significant difference on your return.
 
i donated a bunch of clothes and new shoes and i didnt get anything for my taxes- i just donate to clear out room since my taxes never improved from it
 
[quote name='RAMSTORIA']just donate to donate. i dont know your situation, but i dont think a donation of clothes will make a significant difference on your return.[/QUOTE]

This.

Donating solely for a tax break is pretty weak, OP.
 
Yeah the wife and I donated some clothes and books and stuff to the Union Mission. They don't run a store or anything and they help a lot of people in the area. What made me proud is that my oldest daughter thought she should donate some toys for other kids that didn't have any since she had so much. That made me feel like I'm doing a good job.

edit: didn't care about the tax break. Just made some room in the closet and helped some people out.
 
We donated probably about 5-6 boxes of kids clothes last year and ended up claiming $500 (the maximum?) for the donation. Havent dropped off as much this year but we still have stuff we could get rid off.

Donating is far easier than doing a garage sale or consignment stuff though.
 
well first the standard deduction for the 2011 tax year is 5800.00 for a single filer.

so if you can itemize and get more than 5800.00 it will help you on your taxes. if not then it won't.

basically you're not going to donate enough clothes to get 5800.00 so you're going to have to have other deductions.
 
[quote name='porieux']Nothing wrong with a win-win.[/QUOTE]

I agree with you. Simply because Goodwill's Mission Statement is not to help the poor w/ selling cheap clothing to them but to supply jobs and training to people with disabilities/low income/elderly/ or people in need.

(There are Coach bags priced at over $100/as well as over priced PS3/360 games, blu rays etc in the glass counter of the few near me, The Goodwill's can be just as expensive as a regular retail store)

I'm all for donating to church's and other charities and not getting anything out of it. When I donate to Goodwill though, I'll get a receipt every time.
 
[quote name='Hoffy']
(There are Coach bags priced at over $100/as well as over priced PS3/360 games, blu rays etc in the glass counter of the few near me, The Goodwill's can be just as expensive as a regular retail store)
[/QUOTE]

Might as well make a buck if your primary clientele is privileged hipsters trying to get genuine "worn" clothing instead of buying a $300 pair of tattered jeans from the mall.

I don't give shit to Goodwill. I'd rather give to little mom & pop stores like one I can recall up in northern Michigan where people that really need it can have it all. The kind of places where middle class go for vacation, but the people that live there year round are kinda poor. I just filled up an entire trash bag for them a week ago.
 
I have donated a ton of clothes and other things to Goodwill over the years. I've never bothered with the deductions as I've never had enough things to do an itemized tax return.

I just use it to get rid of stuff everytime I move. Clothes, pots and pans I don't want to take with me, DVDs I've upgraded to blu ray or just will never watch again, books etc. Easier to just donate them than hassle trying to sell them since most of them wouldn't get more than a couple bucks in a yard sell etc. anyway.

Actually have another bag of clothes, a couple of DVDs and an extra Brita filter that I need to donate currently.
 
If you do your own taxes, ie turbotax, etc...

They include a donation value calculator called "its deductible" I believe, that can help you with the values.
 
[quote name='Snake2715']If you do your own taxes, ie turbotax, etc...

They include a donation value calculator called "its deductible" I believe, that can help you with the values.[/QUOTE]

This. We tried this one year after donating two big bags of stuff. The items are worth more than I thought they'd be on your tax forms (it came out to like $2k value or something). But that's still less than the default deductions, so we'd pay more taxes using our itemized deductions than the default.
 
Yeah, that's the issue. Unless you are self employed (or do a ton of consulting on the side) and have a lot of business-related expenses to write off, it's hard to have enough deductions to be able to itemize and come out ahead.
 
[quote name='zionoverfire']Yeah, I donate to the goodwill, battered women's shelter and other groups, some of them will actually come pick up the items from you like the Salvation Army and Northwest Center (mentally disabled charity, used to actually be called Northwest Center for the Retarded until a couple years ago).[/QUOTE]

I just donate the women to the shelter...
 
[quote name='Hoffy']I agree with you. Simply because Goodwill's Mission Statement is not to help the poor w/ selling cheap clothing to them but to supply jobs and training to people with disabilities/low income/elderly/ or people in need.

(There are Coach bags priced at over $100/as well as over priced PS3/360 games, blu rays etc in the glass counter of the few near me, The Goodwill's can be just as expensive as a regular retail store)[/QUOTE]
:applause::applause: THIS. 1000000x this

The local Salvation Army and Goodwill 'thrift' stores don't know the meaning of the word 'thrift'. I understand they have to make money to pay their employees and for any programs they run, but when used living room suites are priced at $399.99 that is NOT a thrift store price.:roll:

Even if the furniture is in immaculate shape it was likely given to the store gratis by someone and shouldn't be sold for quite that much.

That's why I'd much rather take a walk by where the homeless usually camp and just hand them bags of old clothes since at least I know it'd be going to someone who is gonna use them and not profit.
 
Goodwill isn't really a thrift store in the traditional sense. You're giving them stuff to sell at a decent price so they have money to hire people and donate money to other charitable causes. They're not a place to drop off stuff so it can get in the hands of poor people for free or cheap.

Of course, it's very admirable to donate things to the homeless shelters as well where they go directly to people who need them.

I usually go with goodwill as it's more convenient with more drop off locations etc.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Goodwill isn't really a thrift store in the traditional sense. You're giving them stuff to sell at a decent price so they have money to hire people and donate money to other charitable causes. They're not a place to drop off stuff so it can get in the hands of poor people for free or cheap.

Of course, it's very admirable to donate things to the homeless shelters as well where they go directly to people who need them.

I usually go with goodwill as it's more convenient with more drop off locations etc.[/QUOTE]
Their idea of 'decent price' sucks then.:booty: Although that applies more to SA and not GW in this area.
 
I meant decent price in the sense of making GW enough money to be worthwhile to them, not to be a great deal for ultra cheap ass customers. :D
 
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