Donation receipt IRS rules: the $250 acknowledgment and the $75 disclosure

If you run a small nonprofit or a church, two IRS rules decide what your donation receipts must say: the written acknowledgment for any single gift of $250 or more, and the written disclosure when a donor pays more than $75 and gets something back. This guide walks through both using the IRS's own wording, with links so you can check each point. It is a summary for general information, not tax advice.

Not tax or legal advice. This page summarizes IRS Publication 1771 (Rev. 11-2023) and the IRS page on written acknowledgments (shown by the IRS as last reviewed June 28, 2026), both read on October 25, 2026. Rules and dollar amounts can change. Check the sources linked at the end, or ask a tax professional.

Who is responsible

The rule sits on the donor. Publication 1771 says donors are responsible for obtaining a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity for any single monetary or noncash contribution valued at $250 or more before they can claim a charitable deduction. But the same publication says a charitable organization "must assist a donor" by providing a written statement with the required content. In practice this means the charity writes the receipt, and a charity that skips it does not get a penalty for that but leaves its donors unable to deduct the gift.

The $250 rule

The threshold is about a single contribution of $250 or more. The IRS publication says separate contributions of less than $250 are not aggregated, and gives weekly offerings to a church as an example: each one is under $250, so none needs this acknowledgment, even if the donor's total for the year is higher. A single gift of $250 or more does need one. Each payroll deduction of $250 or more is treated as a separate contribution for the same threshold.

You may issue one acknowledgment per gift, or one document such as an annual summary that covers several single gifts of $250 or more. There is no IRS form. The publication says letters, postcards and computer-generated forms are acceptable, on paper or by email.

What the acknowledgment must say

The IRS lists six items. The first three always apply; the last three depend on the facts:

1. The name of the organization.
2. The amount of any monetary contribution.
3. A description, but not the fair market value, of any contribution of property.
4. A statement that no goods or services were provided in return, if that was the case.
5. If goods or services were provided: a description and a good-faith estimate of their fair market value.
6. If the only thing provided was intangible religious benefits: a statement saying so.

The donor's Social Security number or tax identification number does not have to be on it. The IRS page on written acknowledgments lists the same items. Publication 1771 also gives example wording, for instance a cash gift followed by "No goods or services were provided in exchange for your contribution", and, when something was given back, a sentence naming what the donor received and its estimated value.

When the donor needs it

"Contemporaneous" has a specific meaning here. The donor must receive the acknowledgment on or before the earlier of two dates: the day they file their federal income tax return for the year of the gift, and the due date of that return, including extensions. The IRS adds that charities typically send acknowledgments by January 31 of the following year. That is a habit, not a deadline in the rule, but it keeps you ahead of donors who file early. The donor keeps the acknowledgment with their records; they do not attach it to the return.

Gifts that buy something: the $75 rule

A quid pro quo contribution is a payment that is part gift and part payment for something the donor receives, such as a gala ticket or a concert seat. Donors can only deduct the part of the payment that exceeds the fair market value of what they got back. The IRS therefore requires a charity to give a written disclosure statement when a donor makes a payment of more than $75 that is partly a contribution and partly for goods or services.

The statement must:

• tell the donor that the deductible amount is limited to the excess of what they contributed over the value of the goods or services they got; and
• give a good-faith estimate of the fair market value of those goods or services.

It must be given when you solicit the payment or when you receive it, in writing, in a way likely to come to the donor's attention. The IRS warns that small print inside a larger document might not do. Its example: a donor gives $100 for a concert ticket worth $40. The deduction cannot exceed $60, and because the payment is over $75 the charity must give the statement, even though the deductible amount is not over $75.

The penalty for missing the disclosure is $10 per contribution, up to $5,000 per fundraising event or mailing, and the organization can avoid it by showing reasonable cause.

Exceptions

Publication 1771 describes three situations where the benefit does not have to be described or valued, and the disclosure statement is not required:

• Insubstantial value (the token exception). In a fundraising campaign where you tell the donor how much of the payment is deductible, a benefit counts as insubstantial if either its fair market value is no more than the lesser of 2 percent of the payment or $125, or the payment is at least $62.50 and the only items are things that carry your name or logo (mugs, calendars, posters) and cost $12.50 or less in total. The publication gives these as the 2023 amounts and says they are adjusted for inflation, so check the current figures on IRS.gov before relying on them.
• Membership benefits. Annual recurring rights, like free or discounted admission or a gift shop discount, for an annual payment of $75 or less.
• Intangible religious benefits, covered next.

The disclosure is also not needed where there is no donative element at all, such as an ordinary museum gift shop sale. In that case a sale receipt is the right document; see receipt vs invoice.

Intangible religious benefits

If a religious organization provides only intangible religious benefits, the acknowledgment does not have to describe or value them. It can simply state that the organization provided intangible religious benefits. The IRS says these are generally benefits provided by an organization organized exclusively for religious purposes that are not usually sold in commercial transactions outside a gift context, and gives admission to a religious ceremony and a small amount of wine used in a ceremony as examples. It lists education leading to a recognized degree, travel services and consumer goods as things that are not intangible religious benefits. The donation receipt maker has a checkbox that prints the statement for this case.

Gifts of goods and other cases

• Property. Describe it, do not value it. A receipt that says "one used oak crib and a matching dresser" works; "worth $400" is the donor's call. The IRS notes that further substantiation rules, including Form 8283, can apply to noncash gifts depending on the property and its claimed value.
• Payroll deductions. The donor can use a pledge card plus a pay stub, Form W-2 or another employer document. For a single deduction of $250 or more, the pledge card or document must also say that no goods or services were provided in exchange for payroll deductions, if true.
• Services and expenses. Donors generally cannot deduct the value of their time. In narrow cases they may deduct unreimbursed expenses, and then the acknowledgment must describe the services.
• Vehicles. The publication says its rules do not apply to a donated motor vehicle, boat or airplane claimed at more than $500. The IRS has separate publications for those.

Gifts under $250

For monetary gifts of any size, the IRS says donors need a record: a bank record, a statement, a canceled check, or a written communication from the charity (a receipt, a letter or an email) that shows the organization's name, the date and the amount. If you accept cash, a simple receipt is often the only record a donor can get, so sending one for small gifts protects both sides, even though it is not required.

A practical routine for a small organization

1. Decide when you send receipts: per gift, or an annual summary by the end of January.
2. Use one template with your organization's legal name, address and EIN, and keep the statement lines in it so nobody has to remember them.
3. Record the date you received each gift. The IRS uses the date the donor gave the contribution.
4. For events, put the value of the dinner or tickets on the ticket or invitation and on the receipt, and give a statement of the deductible part.
5. Keep copies. If a donor loses theirs, you can reissue it from your records.

The free donation receipt maker and the blank templates in PDF and Word follow this layout. They help you write the statements; they do not check your organization's tax status or whether a particular gift is deductible.

Sources

• IRS Publication 1771, Charitable Contributions: Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements (Rev. 11-2023), read October 25, 2026.
• IRS: Charitable contributions, written acknowledgments, page last reviewed or updated June 28, 2026 per the IRS, read October 25, 2026.
• For more on deductions and valuing gifts, the IRS points to Publication 526 (Charitable Contributions) and Publication 561 (Determining the Value of Donated Property).