I have donated $1200 worth of unopened food to our local food bank.?

Question

I have priced out all items using a local grocery store and had the manager of the foodbank sign my reciept. Am I able to claim this as donation, tax deduction?

Answer 1

You can deduct the market value of the food, or what you paid for the food, whichever is less.  Your deduction will go on Schedule A as a charitable donation.

You will need to itemize (use Schedule A) to receive a tax benefit for the donation.

Answer 2

In addition to the information Nina gave you.  If your Schedule A total is not over the Standard Deduction Amount then you receive no benefit for the donation.  You can take the higher of your Schedule A deductions or the Standard Deduction Amount for your filing status.

Answer 3

If you qualify to itemize your taxes then you can certainly. Most people cannot itemize unless they own a home or paid some catastrophic health insurance bills. Even if you cannot deduct it what you did was a good thing.