Giving something
other than money.

For any single noncash contribution valued at 250 dollars or more you need a contemporaneous written acknowledgment before you can claim a deduction. The IRS tells organizations what to put in it: the name of the organization, a description but not the fair market value of the contribution of property, and either a statement that no goods or services were provided in return or a description and good faith estimate of the value of whatever was.

Those five words, but not the fair market value, are the part donors argue with, and they are not the organization being unhelpful. It describes the property. Putting a number on it is your side of the transaction.

The acknowledgment is contemporaneous only if you receive it on or before the earlier of the date you file your return for the year of the gift, or that return's due date including extensions.

• Under 250 dollars: a receipt from the organization showing its name, the date and location, and a description of what you gave.
• 250 dollars or more: a contemporaneous written acknowledgment, as above.
• Over 500 dollars: Form 8283, Section A, filed with your return. It asks for a description of the property, how you acquired it, your basis, and the fair market value you are claiming.
• Over 5,000 dollars: Form 8283, Section B, which requires a qualified appraisal prepared by a qualified appraiser, with the appraiser's declaration.

Each step is on top of the ones below it, not instead of them.

A qualified appraisal is not required for publicly traded securities, for vehicles where Form 1098-C takes its place, or for inventory from your own business. Publicly traded stock is therefore the simplest thing to give after money: its value on the day is a matter of public record, so the paperwork stops at the acknowledgment and the form.

Clothing and household items have to be in good used condition or better. There is one way around that standard and it is deliberately narrow: a deduction of more than 500 dollars for the item, supported by a qualified appraisal and Form 8283, Section B. A bag of clothes nobody would buy is not a 200 dollar deduction because you say it is.

Vehicles have their own rule, and it surprises people who priced their car before donating it. When the charity sells the vehicle, your deduction is generally limited to the gross proceeds of that sale, which is what the charity actually got for it, not what the car was worth on the day you handed over the keys.

Three situations let you use fair market value instead: the organization makes significant intervening use of the vehicle, such as driving it in its own programs; it makes a material improvement, meaning major repairs that raise the value rather than cleaning and paint; or it gives or sells the vehicle to a needy individual at a significantly below market price in furtherance of its charitable purpose.

The paperwork is Form 1098-C, which the organization files and furnishes when the claimed value is more than 500 dollars. The deadline is 30 days after the sale, or 30 days after the contribution when one of the exceptions applies. Without that acknowledgment you cannot claim more than 500 dollars for the vehicle.

The IRS publishes a whole guide to this question, because the answer differs for used household goods, for jewelry, for art, for stock in a closely held company and for real property. If the number matters to your return, that is the place to start, and above 5,000 dollars it stops being a matter of judgement and becomes a qualified appraisal.

Ask whether the organization accepts the thing you are offering. Many cannot take a vehicle, a property or a gift with conditions attached, and a refusal after the fact is worse for both sides than a question beforehand.

Ask what it will send you and when. The acknowledgment is your responsibility to obtain, not theirs to remember, and its deadline is tied to your tax return rather than to their convenience.