Oh No -here they come!! Goodwill Tickets

[Beersheba]

For decades now, clients will drag out the Goodwill tickets, even though they have little or no deductibility in years and years.

Some of these folks really amaze me. Some of them give absolutely no cash to any other charity, and what it amounts to is every spring they clean out their closets and spiffy clothes for the guy and elegant clothes for his trophy wife end up at the Goodwill store.

They have evidence of the gift, aplenty. Tickets with no value on them, of course. And the donors don't have a clue either. But they expect the preparers to put a value on it even though we don't have a clue what they gave, but we are told there are "several bags."

In the Tax Book, there is a long list of items under Schedule A tab. Once I shove this under their eyes, they back off, quit, and leave me alone. Also the $600 deduction for this year has to be cash only. Won't matter - we'll still get the Goodwill tickets anyway.

This is in no way to create criticism on the practices or benevolence associated with Goodwill Industries.

[Uncle Sam]

Years ago I had a client come in with a list of clothes and personal items donated to charity. Yes - I had the paper receipts from the charity - but no description of dates, items donated, or value amounts.
So I advised the client what to do for the future.
He comes in the next year with a handwritten list of what he gave, and when he showed me the proof- all it was, was a photograph of a bunch of stuffed black plastic garbage bags.

[ATSMAN]

I have one family that collects clothes, furniture, appliances etc in their county and donates it to Goodwill and another charity. I have advised them to take pictures of all the items and write down a list and get it stamped when they bring it to Goodwill. Their Goodwill drop off store will date stamp it.

[FEDUKE404]

Those little white Goodwill "receipts" are borderline a joke.
Many folks have very good intentions, whereas others treat it as a game. (I'm not sure the "gifts" described above by ATSMAN would pass audit muster.)
Several years ago, a benevolent local taxpayer would routinely "donate" around $3k of "clothing" each year. NCDOR eventually cleaned her clock. IIRC, she was also regularly retrieving items to donate from drop boxes in several shopping center parking lots.
Fortunately Form 8283 adds a few bumps in the road for the abusers. There are certainly individuals who have valid large non-cash donations (moving, death in family, etc) and I strongly suggest they document their gifts with an inventory and photos of any items of value, such as furniture.