By The White Coat Investor, originally published at The White Coat Investor.
By
Jim Dahle,
WCI Founder
<!–A reader wrote in explaining that some Donor Advised Funds (DAFs), such as Vanguard Charitable or the Fidelity Giving Account, don’t make it easy to fill out IRS Form 8283, where taxpayers report the donation of anything other than cash (including appreciated shares) to charity.
“I started a Fidelity DAF in 2025 and was very excited to do so. I had the impression I would receive a tax form that would provide the needed information, and it would flow through from Fidelity to TurboTax, the way my other tax forms do. (As a baseline, my tax filing has always been extremely simple and required about one hour per year with TurboTax.) However, I received an 8283 form ‘as a courtesy’ with the notification ‘this form is not complete, and we encourage you to consult a tax professional to complete this form.’
Since this was my first time ever itemizing my deductions, I muddled through with TurboTax as best possible, and my tax return was accepted by the IRS. I think that since Fidelity has all of the information and technology needed to ‘complete’ the form and charges a fee for the DAF, it would be nice for this form to be ‘complete.’ Or, if there is a legitimate way to ‘paraphrase’ one’s way through the process when itemizing, it could be helpful to have some guidance about that for newbies.
I understand that providing specific tax advice may be outside the scope of the WCI blog, and it may not be feasible to discuss ‘paraphrasing’ when it comes to tax forms. But I just wanted to mention that this process was not as frictionless as I was expecting as a fresh, naive, first-time itemizer. It was still a fantastic way to donate overall, and I’ve been singing the praises of DAFs to all of my friends (who probably use a tax professional).”
I was actually impressed that Fidelity sent this WCIer ANYTHING, given that Vanguard Charitable has never sent me a thing. In preparation for this post, I decided to visit Vanguard Charitable to see what documents it offers. There are no tax documents there, but it does have quarterly statements. Frankly, those gave me everything I needed to know to fill out Form 8283. It’s actually a pretty simple form, at least if done by hand. It’s probably not that much more complicated to do using TurboTax, but I haven’t done my own taxes for a few years, so I don’t know. The documents section at Vanguard Charitable includes separate “Contribution” forms that also provide the needed information. Let me show you what all these forms look like.
First, a blank 8283.
Form 8283
Instructions for Form 8283
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How to Fill Out IRS Form 8283 for Your DAF
The form is two pages long, and the instructions are 12 pages long.
This form LOOKS really complicated, but it isn’t. You don’t have to touch much of it at all if you just donated some appreciated shares to your favorite charity or your DAF. All the complicated stuff is for donating your car or something to a charity, where you have to get an appraisal and a donee acknowledgement. Take a look at our form from last year.
You just fill out your name and Social Security number. Then, in Box A(a), list your charity details, and in Box A(c), list the number of shares and the name of the fund. Then go down to the next section, put in the date in A(d), “Various” in A(e), “Purchase” in A(f), and the fair market value in A(h). You can put “Treas Reg 20.2031-2” in A(i). My tax preparer didn’t even bother putting in my basis in A(g). I wondered if that was a mistake, so I checked the instructions. They say:
“For items over $500, enter your cost or adjusted basis. Do not complete this column for publicly traded securities held more than 12 months . . . Keep records on cost or other basis.”
I guess my preparer did it just fine. But my point is that ALL that had to be known when filling this form out was what fund, how many shares, and what the value was. Where can you get that from? The DAF documents. At Vanguard Charitable, the statement looks like this:
The red arrows point to the fund names, the share quantities, and the total value on the date of donation. You literally just move the information in that box to your Form 8283.
You can also get it from your “Contribution statement.” One of ours looked like this:
Again, the red arrows give you all the information you need to fill out part A of 8283.
As tax forms go, this one is pretty easy. Hope this post helped you figure it out.
Do you have any questions? Have you had trouble figuring out how to fill out Form 8283?
The post How to Report Non-Cash Charitable Contributions for Your DAF (IRS Form 8283) appeared first on The White Coat Investor – Investing & Personal Finance for Doctors.
Dr. Jim Dahle
WCI Founder
James M. Dahle, MD, FACEP, FAAEM is a practicing emergency physician and the founder of The White Coat Investor. After multiple run-ins with unscrupulous financial professionals early in his career, he embarked on his own self-study process to become financially literate. After seeing the benefits of financial literacy in his own life, he was inspired to start The White Coat Investor to assist his colleagues. At the time, there was nobody providing unbiased financial education to doctors at any point in their training. Now, more than a decade later, financial wellness is widely recognized as a critical life skill for all physicians and similar professionals. Dr. Dahle remains committed to the original mission of The White Coat Investor to “help those who wear the white coat get a fair shake on Wall Street.”
He currently serves as the CEO, a columnist, and the host of the podcast. Dr. Dahle is a proud father of 4 children and spends his free time adventuring around the world. If you can’t find him, he is probably hiding in the mountains or desert of his home state of Utah.
See more about Jim Dahle
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The White Coat Investor writes at The White Coat Investor. Read this article on their site.
