Do you want the practical answer or the strictly legal answer? The practical answer is that the IRS will never look too closely at anything like this unless you are donating very valuable stuff. The strictly legal answer is that the owner of the property is its owner. I guess the kid can give it back to you, and again, unless it’s worth a lot, that won’t create any problems.</p>
<p>Let me put it this way: legally, there is no difference between ten old paperbacks and 10,000 shares of Google stock. Practically, there is a big difference.</p>
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How about if you buy your teenage daughter an expensive gold necklace and a few months later you find it in her wastebasket because she doesn’t want it anymore; is that ok too?
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<p>see…that would really flip me out. Some of this isn’t about true ownership; some is just about being a family and not hurting each other’s feelings.</p>
<p>I just can’t see forgoing the tax deduction based on ownership issues. When our kids outgrew their Little Tykes toys, we donated most of them to their day care. I donated large amounts of still-in-good-shape toddler and children’s clothing to Goodwill over the years. We donated S’s bunk beds to Habitat Restore when he no longer wanted bunk beds in his room. If the IRS wants to come after me for deducting those things on my taxes then they can go ahead and cuff me. I’ve spent far more than those small deduction amounts in the raising of my kids </p>
<p>JoBlue, my D is 14-she does not draw on her furniture, nor does she do her nails while sitting her bed. She reads in in and sleeps in it, that’s all. That’s all she’s ever done in her bed-she likes to be moving around. So I have no concerns about her damaging it. She also would not throw away good jewelry. At 14 she doesn’t have a LOT of special pieces but she treats them well. If for some reason she decided she didn’t want a necklace or earrings, I’d probably help her sell it on Ebay or something, but it’s never come up. </p>
<p>She often sells her clothes and shoes to Plato’s Closet-a teen fashion consignment store. She uses the store credit to buy new things that fit. She just got a bunch of summer clothes for a couple of trips she’ll be taking. She has learned several things by doing this-to be discerning about how to spend her money, to look for flaws in a garment, to plan for long-term use rather than get caught up in a fad, and to look at practicality vs. fun. Besides, I’d look pretty stupid in a pair of the shoes they carry or a trendy hi-lo skirt…</p>
<p>This is an ironic contrast to all the old beanies & barbies that I put on the porch for Goodwill, once they werent playing with them anymore, that found their way back into the house.
But if we havent opened the box for a couple years, out it goes!</p>
<p>Ive found itemized deductions dont add up to enough to make it worth keeping track.
Even with my knee replacement last year, it didnt make any difference.
D doesnt make enough to file taxes anyway.</p>
<p>If I’m filing taxes as head of household and the kids are my dependents, I’m completely missing why I wouldn’t be able to claim donations from anywhere in the household on my taxes. Their medical expenses get claimed by me. I don’t see a difference here.</p>
Because “households” don’t own things–individuals do. Practically, this makes no difference if we’re talking about old clothes and the like. But if (for example) a relative gave your daughter a valuable piece of jewelry, or shares of stock, etc., you couldn’t (legally) donate that and take the deduction–unless, perhaps, your daughter gives it to you.</p>
<p>^^ not true. If she is part of the household, all donations made by her are part of the household deductions for tax purposes. Once the daughter is on her own, your statement would be true. Now, depending upon the value of the jewelry in your example and some gifting rules, you may need to show it as household income, but that gets into a more sticky set of tax circumstances. Using the original premise, clothing and books, it is 100% something that the head of household should be claiming.</p>
<p>Absolutely, the head of the household should be claiming the deduction. They are, generally, paying all the bills and probably paid for the items. Plus the fact that there are very few of our kids who are right out of college, that are making enough money to file the long form and take the deduction. If my kids want to take the deduction and make enough money to do so, I say go for it! We’re talking some ridiculous technicalities of who “owns” the item. If the kid puts it in the donation box and the parent brings it to the charity…yeah, parent takes the donation. One could consider it a “gift” from the child back to the parent, or maybe a return. </p>
<p>If my kids or husband, or anyone I know wants something I’d be throwing away or donating…it’s theirs, I’m happy to give it to them. I would be shocked if my kids didn’t want to give me a book they were throwing away or donating, especially since I paid for it, and probably searched a couple of stores to find it in the first place. I wouldn’t ask for personal journals or love letters, but if someone doesn’t want an item anymore in our house and isn’t interested in selling it, it goes to whomever wants it. Of course. To say I’d rather donate it or throw it away than give it to you would just be mean.</p>
<p>I guess I would figure out if she really means this, or it’s just one of those moments in time where she is saying something cruel because something else is bothering her, and you just happen to be in the line of fire. I find it hard to believe a kid is actually this rude, and wonder if this is just a brief flare of temper that has nothing to do with the situation.</p>
<p>I think what mom60 said was right on. She was anxious, probably cause she missed her ride and because she
had a lot to do before her solo backpacking trip tomorrow.
( her sister had to write a senior thesis to graduate, this one has a two week backpacking trip, only 3-4 days are solo- which would be plenty)
She obviously reconsidered her actions, not just because she wrote an apology, but she also left the bag of books in the car!</p>
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