4 Apps for Tracking Household Donations for Tax Write-offs

Here’s a rundown of the apps for tracking household donations, which can assist you in keeping track of the contributions of household goods and apparel, making it easier to file taxes accurately and efficiently.

It is of the utmost importance to give to charitable organizations as a means of contributing to the advancement of causes that are important to your community as well as the planet as a whole. This is true whether you are donating clothing or other household items to a local shelter or thrift organization or providing continuous funding to an NGO located in another nation.

In order to determine whether or not you are entitled for a tax deduction, you will need to add up all of the donations you have made prior to filing your taxes. If you do not meticulously record the contributions that your family made throughout the year, you will be faced with a chore that is not only time-consuming but also frequently difficult.

According to the advice of a professional in the field of family finance named Andrea Woroch, “It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the want to donate to worthy causes. Since there are so many methods to donate now, this is especially important to keep in mind when it comes time to keep track of your donations.”

Thankfully, there are a few apps that can streamline the process of documenting clothing and household goods donations for charity. Additionally, some of these apps even help determine the worth of the gifts that have been made. Here are some of the available choices:

ItsDeductible, by TurboTax

ItsDeductible is a free tool that enables you to manage all of your family’s charity contributions from a single location on a single platform. The app also features a function that is really beneficial, and that is the fact that it can provide precise values for the products that you have contributed. ItsDeductible accomplishes this by determining the actual resale value of the household things you give by taking into account the design of the products as well as their current condition.

According to Woroch, “I also like that the app readily integrates with TurboTax, so you can instantly transfer the data to your tax return and guarantee that nothing is overlooked.” “I also like that the app easily interacts with TurboTax.”

ItsDeductible further asserts that it can lessen the likelihood of you being subjected to an audit by supplying information regarding the specific deductions that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) permits and disallows taxpayers to claim on their federal tax returns. And finally, if you use the AnswerXchange function that TurboTax offers, you may simply get answers to any queries you may have regarding your contributions to charity organizations.

Salvation Army Family Store App

You can donate clothing and household goods by using the Salvation Army Family Store App. The app also allows you to acquire a receipt for your donations, book a time for donation pick-up (or find a drop-off site), and plan a time for donation pick-up. Additionally, it keeps account of all of the monetary contributions that you have given.

The Salvation Army will take almost anything you want to donate—furniture, clothing, books, and even vehicles—in exchange for their services.

Charity Clothing Pickup

This software is only able to provide services to users who are located in the following states: Texas, Florida, Missouri, Louisiana, and Ohio. If you reside in one of the aforementioned places, the Charity Clothing Pickup app could be a lifesaver when it comes time to do your taxes.

The operation is as follows: Create an account for yourself through the app after which you can schedule a pick-up for your used clothing and other minor household goods. When the day and time for the pick-up arrives, all you need to do is put the belongings outside of your home in bags or boxes, in a location where a vehicle can readily collect them. You will be given a receipt to use for accounting purposes after the items have been received from you. The fact that the app keeps track of your donation history means that you don’t have to worry about doing that yourself. You can download the application from the app store on your mobile device.

thredUP

To be fair, this is not an app or a platform that has been developed especially for the purpose of keeping track of the charity clothes contributions you make. Nevertheless, if you use thredUP, which is an online consignment and thrift store, you will be able to accomplish that goal. Here are the steps:

The platform for the resale of clothing has a program that it refers to as a “Donation Clean Out Bag,” which enables you to send in unwanted old garments and receive a tax receipt in exchange for your contribution. (Instead of receiving a payment for the resale of your used clothing through ThredUP, you will receive this.) As a part of the Donation Clean Out Bag initiative, the company will, in turn, donate $5 per bag to a charitable organization of your choosing on your behalf.

You will receive an email with a tax donation receipt from thredUP approximately one week after the company has received your bag.

The $5 gift for each Donation Clean Out Bag will still be given to the organization. “One drawback is that there is a dearth of available nonprofits to work with. The money will still go to the designated charity, though.”

The Feeding America, Help a Mother Out, Big Brother Big Sister Foundation, Girls Inc., and Wardrobe for Opportunity are some of the nonprofit organizations that are currently listed as partners on the thredUP platform. As part of its charity giving initiative, thredUP will accept any and all apparel, purses, shoes, and accessories, including those belonging to women, men, and children.

Bear in Mind

The market for apps that are primarily focused on tracking donations of household goods and apparel is still very small. According to Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst for Bankrate, there are somewhat more alternatives for tracking your contributions if you have made monetary gifts to charitable organizations. These possibilities are available to individuals who have donated money to nonprofit organizations.

According to Rossman, “Many of the major companies that provide software for preparing taxes have applications that can keep track of your charity deductions and incorporate them into your return when it is time to file.” “In addition, a lot of credit card issuers offer a year-end summary with charitable contributions highlighted as a separate category, which can be helpful as long as it’s factual and covers everything. However, given that many donations are offered in the form of cash or items, this may not be an adequate option. Nevertheless, it might prove to be useful.”

One such option is provided by Capital One’s Eno, which monitors your use of your Capital One credit card for any transactions that may be construed as contributions to charitable organizations. It then compiles a list of these potential donations at the beginning of each year, well in advance of the date on which tax returns are due.

According to Rossman, there is always the option of using an old-fashioned method to keep track of charitable donations. A spreadsheet or other document is used to keep a tally of the monetary and nonmonetary donations made during the year.

Each person must discover their own unique approach that works best for them. This could involve using modern technology or simply carrying out the task in the traditional manner. It doesn’t matter if you are eligible to itemize or not; if you are, the most important thing is to ensure that you earn the maximum credit possible by avoiding missing out on any potential deductions.

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