Guide
Donation receipt requirements
Every monetary donation needs a record showing the organisation's name, the date and the amount. At $250 and above you need a written acknowledgment from the charity stating whether you received anything in return, and you must have it before you file. Noncash gifts add their own tiers at $500 and $5,000. Getting the acknowledgment is the donor's job, not the charity's.
Every monetary donation needs a record, at any amount
Publication 1771 states that no federal income tax deduction may be claimed for a monetary contribution unless the donor keeps a bank record or a timely written communication from the organisation showing the organisation's name, the date of the contribution and the amount. There is no floor: a $10 gift needs a record just as a $10,000 one does.
A bank record covers a statement from a financial institution, an electronic fund transfer receipt, a cancelled cheque, a scanned image of both sides of a cancelled cheque from a bank website, or a credit card statement. A written communication covers a receipt, a letter or an email. Monetary contributions include cash, cheques, gift cards redeemable for cash, card payments, transfers, online payment services and payroll deduction. Checked against Publication 1771 (Rev. 11-2023) on 16 August 2026. This page covers US federal tax only and is not tax advice.
At $250, you need a written acknowledgment — and you have to ask for it
For any single contribution of $250 or more, a deduction requires a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity. Publication 1771 is blunt about whose problem this is: an organisation that does not acknowledge a contribution incurs no penalty, but without the acknowledgment the donor cannot claim the deduction.
There is no IRS form for it. A letter, a postcard, a computer-generated form or an email all qualify, and one annual summary can substantiate several contributions of $250 or more. You do not attach it to your return — you keep it. Charities typically send them by 31 January of the following year, which means the practical move is to notice a missing one in early February rather than in April.
What the acknowledgment has to contain
Six things, per Publication 1771: the organisation's name; the amount of any monetary contribution; a description — but not the value — of any property contributed; a statement that no goods or services were provided in return, if that was the case; otherwise a description and good faith estimate of the fair market value of what you received; or, for a religious organisation, a statement that only intangible religious benefits were provided.
The valuation asymmetry catches people out. For donated property the charity describes what it received and stops there — putting a dollar value on your used sofa is your job, not theirs, which is why a Goodwill-style slip comes back blank in the value column. Your Social Security number or tax identification number does not belong on the acknowledgment and is not required.
Contemporaneous has a definition, and it is a deadline
The acknowledgment counts as contemporaneous only if you receive it on or before the earlier of the date you file your return for the year of the contribution, or that return's due date including extensions. An acknowledgment obtained after you file does not retroactively support the deduction.
That is the rule that makes chasing a missing receipt in February worth the ten minutes. If you file early on 1 February, your deadline is 1 February — not the April due date. Extensions move the outer deadline, but they do not help anyone who has already filed.
Separate gifts under $250 are not added together
The $250 test applies to each single contribution, not to your annual total. Publication 1771 gives the example directly: weekly offerings of less than $250 to a church are not aggregated, even though the year's total is well above $250. Each of those gifts needs only the ordinary record — a bank record or a written communication.
Payroll deduction works the other way round. Each deduction of $250 or more is treated as a separate contribution for the threshold, and it is substantiated by a pledge card together with a pay stub, a Form W-2 or another employer document showing the amount withheld and paid over. Where a single payroll deduction is $250 or more, the pledge card also has to carry the no-goods-or-services statement.
Noncash donations have their own tiers
Publication 526, for 2025 returns, sets four levels. Under $250: a receipt showing the organisation, date, location and a reasonably detailed description of the items. $250 to $500: a written acknowledgment as well. Over $500 to $5,000: Section A of Form 8283. Over $5,000: Section B of Form 8283 for each item, plus a qualified appraisal by a qualified appraiser, with the organisation signing Part V.
Clothing and household items carry an extra condition — they must be in good used condition or better. The single exception is where you deduct more than $500 for the item and file a qualified appraisal with Form 8283 Section B. Publication 1771's rules do not apply to a donated car, boat or aeroplane with a claimed value above $500; those have their own guidance in Publication 4303.
If you got something back, only the excess is deductible
A payment made partly as a gift and partly for goods or services is a quid pro quo contribution, and your deduction is limited to the amount exceeding the fair market value of what you received. Where that payment is more than $75, the organisation must give you a written disclosure statement saying so and estimating the value in good faith.
The publication's own example: $100 for a concert ticket worth $40 leaves a deduction of at most $60, and the charity must disclose even though the deductible part is under $75. Three exceptions remove the requirement — token items, low-value annual membership benefits, and intangible religious benefits. The token figures are the 2023 amounts and are adjusted for inflation: goods worth no more than the lesser of 2% of the payment or $125, or a logo item costing $12.50 or less given for a payment of at least $62.50. Membership benefits are treated as insubstantial at $75 a year or less. Check the current-year figures on IRS.gov before relying on the numbers.
Volunteering: the time is not deductible, some of the costs may be
You cannot deduct the value of services you give a charity. Unreimbursed expenses incurred while giving those services can be deductible in narrow circumstances described in Publication 526, and where such an expense is $250 or more, it needs an acknowledgment from the organisation.
That acknowledgment is a different document from the ordinary one: it describes the services you provided, states whether the organisation gave you anything in return, and values it if so. Publication 1771's example is a delegate who buys a $500 airline ticket to a convention and is not reimbursed — they keep a copy of the ticket and obtain the organisation's description of their services. So the paperwork is two-sided: your own receipt for the cost, their letter for the service.
The part you can actually control
The rules above are fixed. What is not fixed is whether the paper survives until you file. Photograph each acknowledgment when it arrives, record the organisation, the date and the amount, and keep the year's donations together so an incomplete set is obvious in February rather than in April.
This is the same habit the rest of these guides describe, applied to a category with an unusually hard deadline. Our AI Receipt Scanner is free to use for entering, organising and searching records, with AI scanning metered at five free and export behind Pro — a donation acknowledgment is a document to keep and find, so any searchable archive that is backed up will do the job. The guide to organising receipts electronically covers the structure, and the IRS receipt requirements guide covers the business-expense rules, which are a separate set from these.
Questions
Common questions
Do I need a receipt for a charitable donation?
Yes, for any monetary donation. Publication 1771 requires a bank record or a timely written communication from the organisation showing its name, the date and the amount, with no minimum. At $250 and above you additionally need a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity.
What must a donation receipt include?
The organisation's name, the amount of a monetary gift, a description of any donated property, and a statement about goods or services — either that none were provided, or a description and good faith estimate of their fair market value, or that only intangible religious benefits were provided. It does not need your Social Security number.
What is the $250 rule for charitable donations?
A deduction for any single contribution of $250 or more requires a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity. Getting it is the donor's responsibility; a charity that fails to send one faces no penalty, but the donor loses the deduction. Separate contributions of less than $250 are not aggregated to reach the threshold.
What does contemporaneous mean for a donation receipt?
You must receive the acknowledgment on or before the earlier of the date you file your return for the year of the donation, or that return's due date including extensions. If you file on 1 February, an acknowledgment that arrives on 2 February is too late for that contribution.
Do I need an appraisal to donate goods?
Only above $5,000. Publication 526 requires Section A of Form 8283 for noncash deductions over $500 up to $5,000, and Section B plus a qualified appraisal by a qualified appraiser above $5,000. Below $250 a receipt with a reasonably detailed description is enough; $250 to $500 adds a written acknowledgment.
Why is the value blank on my donation slip?
Because the charity is not supposed to fill it in. The acknowledgment describes donated property but does not state its fair market value — valuing it is the donor's responsibility. Publication 561 covers how to determine the value of donated property.
Can I deduct my time as a volunteer?
No. The value of services given to a charity is not deductible. Certain unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses incurred while volunteering may be, under the circumstances set out in Publication 526, and any such expense of $250 or more needs an acknowledgment describing the services you provided.