Originally Posted by
GrannieAnnie
This brings to mind a question---------say a top notch artist donates a piece of art worth a million dollars on the open market. Is he/she allowed to deduct the going price of a million dollars or just the $50 or so for a canvas and paints?
My bet, in this case, is that he/she could deduct far more than the cost of materials.
There are special rules for donations of that type. The first rule is it has to be appraised. Unless you are a famous quilter whose quilts are worth loads of money you don't need to worry about something like that.
You get to deduct the amount of the materials. BUT (big but) You should only use itemized deductions if they're more than the standard deduction and the standard has gotten so high lots and lots of people don't have enough itemized deductions to make it worthwhile.