Who decides the value of goods donated?

We are doing a bit of seasonal weeding of our wardrobes and are considering donating it to Goodwill. Some of the clothing was worn once, washed, put away and never worn again while other items had the tags removed and were never worn at all. I found the location that is closest to us and we are just about ready wrap this up but I have a question. Who decides the value of the goods donated? I have no idea what this clothing should be worth. Ten dollars each? I don't know. Maybe. I've been checking over their site but I don't see a clear answer posted. Does anyone know how this works? Thanks.

I believe the IRS's system is that you value it at what you think it could sell for, at a yard sale. Some exceptions (I think) include new items with tags, or very fine items (furs, high fashion brand names, etc).

We use the yard sale valuation method, since we don't own many super-fine items.

BTW, you have to be super-honest about yard-sale valuation. The ugly truth is, with the exception of baby clothes, very few people purchase clothes at yard sales for anything near what you THINK they are worth.

If that is the case. I would imagine that $3 an item would make sense. The items are sweaters, pull overs, shirts, jeans, etc. Nothing of significant value. So what does Goodwill do, just give me a receipt showing that items were donated and then I deduct something reasonable on my taxes?

Edit: I found this on the Salvation Army site Donation Value Guide (http://www.salvationarmysouth.org/valueguide.htm)

Around here, Goodwill gives you a receipt simply acknowledging that they received goods. DH and I attach a list of the items we donated, with values, that we compiled when we were putting things in boxes. NOW, the IRS recommends photos of the items, too. The list and the photos are in case of audit -- you don't submit any of that with your returns.

(Note that it's different if you donate something big, like a car -- you need more than just the receipt.)

That is great, exactly what I needed to know. Thanks so much for the answer.

This year I used Deduction Pro software for the first time (it came free with my Tax Cut software) and I recommend it to anyone who itemizes their deductions. I thought it worked great. And it seemed to come up with more deduction dollars for my tax return than I would have come up with on my own.

The plan now is to use it throughout the year to document the various donations we give as they occur, rather than trying to remember back to what items were donated for each receipt.

Good luck,
Rookie

That is a great idea too, I'll definitely check it out.