Goodwill clothing donation deduction rules are stricter than most taxpayers realize. In Besaw v. Commissioner, the Tax Court disallowed a $6,760 noncash charitable contribution deduction even though the court appeared to accept that the donations were real. The problem was substantiation.
John Besaw claimed the deduction on his 2019 return and attached Form 8283. But that did not save him. Missing details, blank charity receipts, and records created after the return was filed were enough to wipe out the deduction entirely.
If you donate clothing, household goods, or other property to Goodwill, Salvation Army, or similar charities, this case is a warning: a real donation does not automatically create a deductible donation.
Besaw, a Washington state resident, claimed a deduction for noncash charitable contributions on his 2019 tax return. He attached Form 8283 and listed the charities, along with short descriptions of the donated property.
The problem was that he did not include the donation dates or the values of the donated items on Form 8283. During the IRS examination, he later submitted a reconstructed document that listed donee organizations, donation dates, item descriptions, and cost and current value information.
That reconstruction came too late. The court treated the later-created records as insufficient to cure the original substantiation problem.
The tax law for donated property gets stricter as the dollar amount increases. That is where many Goodwill donors get caught.
You generally need a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity. That acknowledgment must be obtained no later than the earlier of the date you file the return or the due date of the return, including extensions. For noncash gifts, the acknowledgment must include a description of the property, but not the value.
You must generally file Form 8283 with your return. You also need written records showing how you acquired the property, when you acquired it, and your cost or adjusted basis.
You generally need even more substantiation, including a qualified appraisal for most property types.
For the IRS baseline rules on charitable substantiation, see IRS Topic No. 506.
The source article focuses first on the missing dates and values on Form 8283. But the Tax Court went further. It emphasized that none of the receipts from the charitable organizations included descriptions of the donated items.
That mattered because the regulations for noncash contributions require a receipt from the donee organization showing the name of the donee, the date and location of the contribution, and a description of the property in detail reasonably sufficient under the circumstances.
In Besaw, the receipt sections identifying the donated goods and their values were blank. That was fatal.
This is an important distinction: the charity receipt generally does not need to state fair market value, but it does need a property description. And when your noncash deduction is large enough to require Form 8283, that form must also be completed accurately.
This is the practical trap. Most donation centers do not give you an itemized receipt that lists every shirt, coat, lamp, or kitchen item you dropped off. In many cases, you receive a generic slip with the charity name, date, and maybe a vague phrase like “household items” or “clothing.” Sometimes even less.
From the charity’s perspective, that makes sense. Donation centers are built to receive and process goods quickly, not to inventory every item for tax substantiation purposes.
From the taxpayer’s perspective, that can be dangerous. If the documentation is incomplete, you may learn that only after the IRS asks questions—when it is already too late to fix the problem.
Usually not. That is one of the harshest parts of this case.
The contemporaneous acknowledgment rule means the required documentation must exist by the earlier of the filing date or the return due date, including extensions. If you try to reconstruct the file after the audit starts, the IRS and the Tax Court may disregard it.
That is exactly what made Besaw’s later-created records ineffective.
The practical workaround is straightforward: create your own detailed item list before or at the time of donation, and have the charity acknowledgment tie back to that list.
The burden is ultimately on you, not on Goodwill or any other charity, to prove the deduction.
A Goodwill clothing donation deduction can be completely legitimate and still be denied if the paperwork is incomplete. That is the real lesson from Besaw v. Commissioner.
If you are claiming a noncash charitable contribution deduction, do not assume a generic donation receipt is enough. Once your deduction gets large enough, you are in Form 8283 territory, and the substantiation rules become much less forgiving.
Real donation. Real charity. Real loss of the deduction.
That is the trap.
Before you claim a larger property donation deduction, make sure the file is audit-ready.
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This article is for general educational purposes only and is not tax, legal, or accounting advice for your specific situation.