I’m supposed to be working on my taxes…but I thought I would pause and share my discovery. Being “Frugalfish” meant for the last couple decades I have itemized deductions. Yesterday I finished recording and documenting the items I donated to “Good Will” in 2011.

There were three different options for us:

1)      Price by size of the box.

2)      Use a valuations sheet.

3)      Use itsdeductibleonline.intuit.com.

In order to document my donations, I took pictures of them, had an itemized list, (noting new items) and the receipt from Good Will.

Mr. Frugalfish and I went over the receipts and determined the size of the boxes. Using option #1, we could deduct $750.00.

He went through the itemized list, using the valuation sheet, and found the deduction to be $792.00. He noted most items as new or having a high value. I do not count them as a high value unless the tags are still on them.

I used itsdeductibleonline.intuit.com to come up with valuations. I listed 99% of the items at medium value. For the items not listed there, I went to Ebay.com and looked up the amount they were selling for. I printed off the Ebay pages as documentation should I ever be audited. Since I tend to go low on my values, I don’t worry about an audit. My total was $963.92!

The best part is…

itsdeductibleonline.intuit.com is FREE!!!

This year I am going to look up the valuations as I donate them. I know I will be getting the largest, most accurate deduction, and will not be overwhelmed come tax time next year!