Clothes Too Tight After Turkey Stuffing?

December 03, 2013

Did you try to put that cute winter sweater on for the first time this year, only to find that eating way too much turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing is resulting in your unsuccessful attempt to stuff yourself into clothes that are now too tight? Well, I don’t have a magical dieting solution, but I’m sure someone else might just find that sweater a perfect fit. Whether some of your clothes are now too tight, too loose (I wish!), or just simply out of style, the solution is to donate these items to someone who CAN wear them.  Not only can someone else make good use of your castoffs, you might even be able to take a tax deduction. 

Every year around the holidays, I go through my own closet, weeding out any clothing I have not worn in the past two years, and I do the same with my husband’s clothes. I then haul several bags of clothes to my local Goodwill store.  If I didn’t want the hassle of driving, I could also call Purple Heart or the Salvation Army, and they’d actually come and pick up my donated clothing items from my front porch.

Since I itemize on my federal tax return, I can take a deduction for what the IRS considers Fair Market Value (FMV) of the clothes I donate, which is the value a buyer might be willing to pay for the used item.  The Salvation Army provides an online Donation Value Guide to simplify the task of calculating the FMV when you are preparing your Schedule A form, which is the tax form for claiming charitable donations. Many taxpayers limit themselves to a $500 deduction on the Schedule A, even though their donated items’ FMV exceed the amount due to the fear of having to file Form 8283.

Contrary to the rumor mill, this does not automatically trigger an audit – I’ve been filing this form for the past several years and have never had any issues.  According to the IRS 2013 Winter Statistics Bulletin, the average clothing donation per tax return was $1,458. For someone in the 25% tax bracket who itemizes their deductions, this average deduction provides $364.50 in tax savings so set aside a few hours of your time and get to stuffing all your unworn outfits into bags or boxes and you can trim down your taxes.  Then you might want to trim your waistline, too!