Noncash contribution
A charitable gift of property rather than money: clothing, furniture, electronics, books, a vehicle, or securities.
A noncash contribution is a donation of property instead of cash. Bags of clothing left at a thrift store, a sofa collected by a charity truck, a laptop, a bicycle, and a car all fall under the same heading, and so do donated securities.
The IRS states that if you donate property other than cash to a qualified organization, you may generally deduct the fair market value of the property. That single sentence is why a donation tracker is really a valuation tool: the deduction is not what you paid, and it is not what the charity eventually sells the item for, it is what the property would sell for on the open market at the time you gave it.
Noncash contributions carry a reporting ladder that cash contributions do not have. Once your deduction for noncash contributions passes $500 you generally file Form 8283, and once it passes $5,000 for an item or a group of similar items you generally need a qualified appraisal as well.
Sources
- Publication 526 (2025), Charitable Contributions, full textIRS, IRS publication
- Topic no. 506, Charitable contributionsIRS, IRS guidance
- Publication 561 (rev. December 2025), Determining the Value of Donated Property, full textIRS, IRS publication
- Charitable contribution deductionsIRS, IRS guidance
Definitions describe the rule as published. They are not tax advice, and almost every threshold above has an exception attached to it in the underlying publication. Confirm anything that affects a return with a qualified tax professional.
Related terms
Fair market value (FMV)
The price property would sell for on the open market between a willing buyer and a willing seller, both informed and neither under compulsion.
Form 8283
Noncash Charitable Contributions, the form attached to your return once your deduction for noncash gifts is more than $500.
Qualified appraisal
A formal written valuation, prepared by a qualified appraiser under professional standards, generally required for deductions over $5,000.
AGI limit (percentage limitation)
A ceiling on charitable deductions expressed as a percentage of adjusted gross income, varying by gift type and recipient.
Values with the source attached
DeductiBee applies a cited fair-market-value range to everything you donate, keeps the photo with the record, and exports a Form 8283 worksheet when you file.
