Does the IRS check donation receipts?

Yes, the IRS can request your donation records at any time, and it expects you to have proper substantiation on hand even though it doesn't verify every receipt when you file. If your return is examined, the burden falls on you to produce documentation supporting the deduction you claimed, not on the charity or the IRS.

For donated equipment, what the IRS actually checks (or asks for) scales with the value of the gift:

• Under $250: a receipt from the charity showing its name, the date, and a description of the equipment donated.
• $250 or more: a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity describing the property and confirming whether you received anything in return.
• Over $500: IRS Form 8283 filed with your return, describing the donated property and how you determined its value.
• Over $5,000: a qualified appraisal supporting the value claimed on Form 8283, prepared by a qualified appraiser.

If the required documentation is missing, incomplete, or not obtained by the filing deadline, the IRS can disallow the deduction entirely, even when the donation itself was legitimate. This is why the appraisal matters most for higher-value equipment donations: it isn't just paperwork, it's the evidence that stands behind your deduction if the IRS ever asks.

Equipment Donation Appraisers prepares USPAP-compliant equipment donation appraisals built to satisfy these documentation requirements, with reports formatted to support Form 8283 filings. For more on the specific dollar thresholds, see our answers on whether donating equipment is tax deductible and the IRS rule for donations over $500.