IRS Charitable Donation Appraisals
Qualified appraisals meeting IRS requirements for noncash charitable contributions, including everything needed for Form 8283.
IRS Charitable Donation work has its own rules
Noncash charitable contributions over $5,000 generally require a qualified appraisal from a qualified appraiser. The report must be prepared no earlier than 60 days before the date of contribution and must contain specific content the regulations enumerate. A report missing any of it can cost the deduction outright.
Every report prepared for this purpose states its intended use and intended user explicitly, applies the value standard that purpose requires, and is signed by the appraiser who performed the work. That is not a courtesy — it is what makes the report usable by the party who has to accept it.
The thresholds that decide everything
Almost every problem in donation appraisal work is a threshold problem, not a value problem. Three numbers and one date decide what is required, and a donor who is on the wrong side of any of them usually does not find out until the return is examined.
| Claimed deduction | Form 8283 | Qualified appraisal |
|---|---|---|
| $5,000 or less per item or group of similar items | Section A | Not required |
| More than $5,000 per item or group of similar items | Section B | Required |
The current form is Rev. December 2025, which adds a dedicated digital assets checkbox in Section B, Part I.
The phrase doing the work is “or group of similar items”. The test is not applied gift by gift. Similar items contributed during the same tax year are considered together, so a donor who gave four separate lots of comparable property, none of them near $5,000, can still land in Section B when they are aggregated — and will not have an appraisal, because nothing about any individual gift suggested one was needed.
The 60-day window
The appraisal must be made not earlier than 60 days before the date of contribution. That is a hard boundary and it catches careful people more often than careless ones, because the instinct to get valuation done early is exactly what puts a report outside the window.
| Sequence | Result |
|---|---|
| Appraisal obtained, gift made within 60 days | Inside the window |
| Appraisal obtained, gift delayed past 60 days | Outside the window. The analysis may be perfectly sound and still not satisfy the requirement. |
| Gift already made, appraisal obtained afterwards | Routine. A retrospective effective date is normal appraisal work. |
If a planned gift may slip, say so when commissioning. Timing the engagement is cheaper than repeating it.
What the report must contain, and who signs
Publication 561 and the regulations enumerate what a qualified appraisal has to include. A report missing any of it is not merely thin; it can fail as a qualified appraisal while containing an entirely defensible opinion of value.
- A description of the property in sufficient detail to identify it, and its physical condition.
- The date, or expected date, of contribution.
- The terms of any agreement about the use, sale or disposition of the property.
- The appraiser's name, address and qualifications.
- A statement that the appraisal was prepared for income tax purposes.
- The appraisal date, the appraised fair market value, and the basis for the valuation — the method used and the specific evidence relied upon.
For a Section B donation the qualified appraiser signs the appraiser declaration on Form 8283 and the donee organisation acknowledges receipt. Those signatures are part of a complete filing, not an administrative afterthought.
One consequence worth stating plainly: the fee cannot depend on the value reached. Every quote for this work is fixed before the work begins and does not move with the conclusion — not as a courtesy, but because a contingent fee would disqualify the report.
Where the deduction question stops being ours
An appraisal is an opinion of value on a stated date to a stated definition. What deduction that supports is a different question, and it depends on the donor's circumstances, the class of property, the recipient organisation and limits that apply to the return.
So the report will tell you what the property is worth and will contain what the regulations require. It will not tell you what you may deduct, and an appraiser who offers to is answering a question that belongs to your tax adviser.
Where this sits
The mechanics of the form itself are covered on IRS Form 8283 appraisals. The assets most often donated are personal property and machinery and equipment — and in the equipment case, farm equipment specifically. There is a free IRS donation requirements tool that answers the threshold question before you call.
Common questions
When does a noncash donation need a qualified appraisal?
A qualified appraisal is generally required for a donation of property claimed at more than $5,000. Below that, Form 8283 Section A is used and no appraisal is required. Above it, Section B applies and the appraisal requirement attaches. Source: IRS Instructions for Form 8283, Rev. December 2025.
Is the $5,000 threshold per item or per donation?
It applies per item or per group of similar items. That grouping is the part donors most often get wrong: several separate gifts of similar property in the same tax year can be aggregated and cross the threshold together even though no single gift approached it.
How recently must the appraisal be done?
The appraisal must be made not earlier than 60 days before the date of contribution. An appraisal obtained well in advance of a planned gift can fall outside that window and fail on timing alone, regardless of how good the analysis is. Source: IRS Instructions for Form 8283.
What is the difference between Section A and Section B?
Section A reports donations claimed at $5,000 or less per item or group of similar items. Section B reports donations claimed at more than $5,000 per item or group. Section B is the part an appraiser signs.
Does the appraiser sign the tax form?
For Section B donations the qualified appraiser signs the appraiser declaration on Form 8283, and the donee organisation acknowledges receipt. A donor who files without those signatures has filed an incomplete form.
Can the appraiser tell me what my deduction will be?
No. An appraiser provides an opinion of value. What deduction that supports depends on the donor's circumstances, the type of property, the recipient organisation and limits that apply to the return — all of which belong to the donor and their tax adviser.
What is a qualified appraiser?
The regulations set requirements covering education and experience in valuing the type of property, regular preparation of appraisals for compensation, and the absence of a prohibited relationship to the transaction. A report is only as good as the appraiser's ability to meet those on the face of the document.
Can the fee depend on the appraised value?
No. A fee contingent on the value reached is not permitted for this work, which is why every quote here is a fixed amount agreed before the work starts. It does not change with the conclusion.
What does the appraisal itself have to contain?
Publication 561 and the regulations enumerate required content, including a description of the property, its physical condition, the contribution date, the terms of any agreement about use or disposition, the appraiser's identity and qualifications, a statement that it was prepared for income tax purposes, the appraisal date, the value and the basis for it, and the method used.
What happens if the appraisal is defective?
A donation that requires a qualified appraisal and does not have a compliant one can have the deduction disallowed. The failure is usually procedural rather than substantive — a missing signature, an appraisal dated outside the window, items not aggregated — which is the frustrating part, because the value was never the problem.
Do I need one appraisal or several?
One qualified appraisal can cover a group of items, and for an aggregated donation it generally should. It must still provide the required information for each item rather than a single group total.
Can you appraise items I have already donated?
Yes, subject to the timing rule. A retrospective effective date is routine appraisal work; what matters is that the appraisal date falls inside the window the regulations allow relative to the contribution.
Need a charitable donation appraisal?
Tell us the asset and the deadline. You get a fixed written quote, usually the same day.
What the work actually looks like
Real assignments, client details removed — what each engagement actually turned on, rather than how it felt.
A house, a workshop of machine tools, a forty-year firearms collection and a stake in the family company — four disciplines that three appraisers had only partly covered. One engagement, one effective date, one set of assumptions.
A donation the regulations would have aggregated past the appraisal threshold, which the donor had assessed item by item. One qualified appraisal covering the group, itemized, signed inside the window the regulations allow.
An opposing report whose number was not obviously wrong — which is what made it dangerous. It failed on its own certification, and was answered section by section with an independent valuation to the correct definition of value.