If you want to donate something to charity and deduct it from your taxes, it might not be as simple as it seems. In fact, it's important to learn how to value a charitable donation correctly.

When you donate something, it isn't simply going to worth whatever you paid for it. You'll need to do some extra work to discover how much it's worth, as well as itemizing each and every item you donate to properly calculate the value.

Above all, you need to keep an accurate record and document everything you donate in order to properly realise its value.

Firstly, you'll realise that how to value a charitable donation isn't as simple as knowing how much money you spent on it. The truth is that things are worth a lot more brand new than they are when they are donated, especially if it's been a few years since you originally bought it.

You should, instead, think of it as if you were to sell it on now. So, if you were selling an old item of furniture now, how much would you charge for it? It certainly wouldn't be worth the hundreds that you paid for it - it probably will have gone down in value a lot.

When you donate to charity, knowing how to value a charitable donation isn't always a problem, as some charities will do the work for you. Some charities like to take complete control and value what you are donating themselves. This is especially common when you're donating cars, and they may even offer you a flat rate or wait until they've sold the item at auction.

If the charity values donations themselves then you could contact some different charities to find out how much they value certain types of items.

Of course, there are also a number of charities that will let you value the donation yourself. You will have to fill in a form and you will get a receipt from the charity as to what the donation value was.

Depending where you are from, there are probably some strict guidelines on how to value a charitable donation. This is useful as it means you can ask any questions you might have to ensure you do everything the right way.