How to Deduct a Cell Phone Donation From Your Taxes
The IRS allows tax deductions of charitable donations of household goods to qualified organizations. To claim a deduction for donation of a cell phone, the phone must be in working order when you donate it and you must itemize your deductions. You cannot deduct charitable donations if you use a short version of Form 1040.
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Instructions
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1
Determine the fair market value of the phone at the time you donated it. The easiest way to do this is to ask the organization you donated it to what it is worth. The phone will be worth substantially less than it was when you bought it. You can check stores that sell used cell phones to see what they are being sold for.
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2
Keep the receipt you received from the organization you donated the phone to along with a written description of how you arrived at the fair market value.
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3
Enter the value of the cell phone on Line 17 of Form 1040 Schedule A. If you made other non-cash charitable donations, add their value to the cell phone value and put that total on Line 17. If the total of donations is more than $500, you also must file Form 8283. You will use Part I of this form, on which you list the organization items were donated to and a description of the items.
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4
Total all your deductions and put this number on Line 29 of Schedule A. Compare this with your standard deduction. If your standard deduction is more than your itemized deduction, do not itemize. In that case, you would not deduct your cell-phone donation and would keep your standard deduction because it reduces your taxes. If your itemized deduction is lower than the standard deduction, continue to Step 5.
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5
Copy the total on Schedule A Line 29 to Form 1040 Line 40. Fill out the rest of Form 1040.
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