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In-Kind Donation Valuation Calculator

Enter the original price, condition and quantity to value your in-kind donation.

How it is calculated

The tool applies a fixed share of the original price that depends on the condition you pick: excellent 50%, good 30%, fair 15% (an unrecognised condition falls back to good). Fair means visibly worn but still in good used condition. There is no poor tier: the IRS allows no deduction for clothing or household items below good used condition unless a qualified appraisal supports a claim over $500, so the tool shows no result for it. unit value = original price × share, total value = unit value × quantity, tax saving = total value × tax rate ÷ 100. The original price is the price of one item when bought, the quantity is the number of identical items, and the tax rate is your marginal rate in percent. If quantity is empty or zero it is treated as 1, and an empty tax rate gives a saving of zero. These shares are a rough planning estimate, not IRS values: the IRS requires fair market value, the price buyers actually pay for similar used items, and says used clothing cannot be valued by fixed formulas. The deduction rules of your country decide what you may actually claim.

Worked example

You donate 6 children's jackets that cost 80 each when new and are in fair condition. The fair share is 15%, so each jacket is valued at 80 × 0.15 = $12.00. For six jackets the total is 12 × 6 = $72.00. With a marginal tax rate of 22%, the potential tax saving is 72 × 22 ÷ 100 = $15.84. This is only a planning estimate: check what similar used jackets actually sell for, since the IRS deduction is their fair market value, not a fixed share of the price.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering the total price of the whole lot in the original price field: the field is the price of one item, and the quantity is applied afterwards, so the value would be multiplied twice.
  • Treating the tax saving as the amount of the deduction: the saving is the deduction multiplied by your tax rate, so a $72.00 value at 22% saves $15.84, not $72.00.
  • Entering the tax rate as 0.22 instead of 22: the rate is read in percent, so 0.22 means a rate of 0.22% and the saving becomes almost zero.
  • Rating items as excellent by default: the percentage drops from 50% to 15% between excellent and fair, which changes the value more than any other input.

Sources

About this calculator

This calculator gives a rough planning estimate of what donated used goods — clothing, furniture, electronics and similar items — might be worth: it applies a condition-based share of the item's original purchase price (excellent 50%, good 30%, fair 15%), multiplies by quantity to get a total, and multiplies that total by your tax bracket to show the tax saving a deduction could bring. These shares are a rule of thumb, not IRS values.

In the U.S., the IRS allows a deduction for in-kind gifts to a qualified 501(c)(3) charity at fair market value — the price buyers actually pay for similar used items, for example in thrift or consignment shops — not the original or replacement cost, and Publication 561 notes that used clothing does not lend itself to fixed formulas. Clothing and household items are deductible only in good used condition or better (an item in worse condition needs a qualified appraisal if you claim more than $500 for it), and noncash gifts over $500 in total must be reported on Form 8283. Individual donors, nonprofit intake staff and accountants use this kind of estimate as a starting point, then check the prices of comparable used items before filling out donation records or itemizing deductions on Schedule A.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    Read the tax saving line with one condition in mind: under US federal rules it only exists if you itemize deductions instead of taking the standard deduction. If you take the standard deduction, the donation generally changes nothing on your return, however high the estimate. Keep the charity's receipt and a list of what you gave, with condition and date. Do you itemize, and how do you price used goods before you donate them?

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