The U.S. Tax Court rejected a grandmother’s charitable contribution deductions of more than $85,000 for clothing she gave to Goodwill. The taxpayer bought heavily discounted clothing from a clothing store, often using customer “reward points.” She then deducted the full retail price on her federal tax returns. For example, she’d buy an item originally priced at $99 for $10, donate it and deduct $99. The court denied the deductions for several reasons, including that she hadn’t used a legitimate method for determining fair market value. (TC Memo 2018-117)
