If you entered an item or a group of items (all donated on the same day to the same charity) worth more than $500, the IRS requires some additional information about the donation.
To enter details for item donations over $500:
In response to How did you acquire the item(s) donated?, select the option that best describes the way you acquired this item or group of items. Your options are:
Purchase
Gift
Inheritance
Exchange
If you did not buy this item, then some special rules apply regarding the cost/adjusted basis. See Inherited Property and Gifts in H&R Block’s Guide to Charitable Deductions for more information.
In response to When did you acquire the item(s)?, select the appropriate option:
Various dates, more than one year ago—Select this item if you acquired the item or group of items on different dates and you have owned them for more than one year.
Tip: If you are donating inherited property, make sure to select this option. Inherited items are considered long-term holdings regardless of when you acquired the property.
Various dates, less than one year ago—Select this item if you acquired the item or group of items on different dates and you have owned them for less than one year.
Specific date—If you are recording information about one item or a group of items that you acquired all on the same day, enter the actual date on which you acquired these items.
Caution: If you have appreciated property—property that has increased in value since you acquired it—and you acquired the property within the past year, this is called short-term appreciated property. For this type of property, you can only claim the cost/adjusted basis. You cannot claim the appreciated value as your deduction.
In response to How much did you pay for the item(s)?, enter the total amount that you paid for all the items you donated in the box provided, and then click Next.
If you inherited the item that you are donating—Enter the value listed in the estate return or the fair market value of the item as of the date of death.
If you are donating an item that you received as a gift—Enter the value of the item at the time you received it (not when you donated it). If you don’t know the value, you will need to ask the giver what the value of the item was at the time he or she gave it to you.
If you exchanged an item with someone—Enter the value of the item that you gave in the exchange.
After DeductionPro processes the information that you have provided, a screen explaining how much you can deduct is displayed.
When you’re done reading the information on the screen, click Finished.