Donation receipts and tax deductions: what a thrift store can and cannot give you
The receipt a thrift store hands you is a record that you gave, not a statement of value. What it covers, when you need more than a receipt, and who sets the numbers.
Who can issue a receipt
A donation is deductible only if it goes to a qualifying nonprofit — in the United States, a 501(c)(3) organization. Goodwill, The Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity ReStores, St. Vincent de Paul and most church- and hospital-affiliated shops qualify. A for-profit resale store, and a chain that buys donated goods from a nonprofit partner, is a different case: the nonprofit that received the goods issues the receipt, not the store that sells them. Ask at drop-off whom the receipt comes from.
What the receipt says — and does not
The store's receipt confirms the date, the organization and a general description of what you gave. It normally does not assign a dollar value, and it is not supposed to: valuing a noncash donation is the donor's job, using the fair market value — what the item would sell for in its current condition, which for used clothing and household goods is roughly the thrift-store price itself, not what you paid new.
Keep the receipt with your own list of items and the values you assigned. Photographs taken before drop-off settle most questions later.
When a receipt is not enough
Federal rules add paperwork as the value grows. For any single contribution of $250 or more you need a written acknowledgment from the organization; if your total noncash donations for the year exceed $500 you file Form 8283 with your return; and a single item or group of similar items valued over $5,000 generally requires a qualified appraisal. Items must be in good used condition or better to be deducted at all.
These are the thresholds as commonly published by the IRS; the exact rules and forms are on irs.gov, and a tax preparer can tell you how they apply to your return. Nothing here is tax advice.
Published 2026-09-19 · reviewed with each rebuild, last September 2026.