Donate it or haul it? Where your furniture actually ends up in Dallas

We run a furniture removal service, so we have a stake in the answer. This guide starts with the free routes anyway, because for a sound dresser or dining set on the first floor a charity pickup is the better outcome, and it says plainly where each route stops working.

Charity pickup or a junk removal crew: how do they compare?

Where to donate furniture in Dallas: Habitat ReStore and Goodwill

Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity ReStore

Habitat's two Dallas ReStores, at 2848 Walnut Hill Ln and 2800 N. Hampton Rd, resell donated furniture, appliances and building materials in support of its affordable-housing work. Both are open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ReStore donation page offers two kinds of pickup:

• Free standard pickup, run by Habitat when a truck driver is available. Items must be in good working order with no missing pieces, damage or excessive wear; already disconnected and disassembled; disinfected; and gathered somewhere easy to reach. The address must be in Dallas County and the items on the first floor or reachable by elevator. Drivers do not use stairways or carry tools, and they may refuse items in poor condition on site.
• Priority pickup through a third-party hauler Habitat works with, for a fee that varies. It picks up within 48 to 72 hours, takes items in any condition from anywhere in the home or a storage unit, and disassembles pieces that need it, except doors, cabinets and lighting. Habitat notes that this fee is not tax-deductible.

Furniture is accepted except office furniture, armoires, entertainment centers, china cabinets and outdated pieces. The ReStore also refuses mattresses and box springs; cribs, car seats and highchairs; office desks, cubicles and metal file cabinets; and smaller household goods such as pillows, dishes and curtains. Donors get an itemized receipt, and the page notes that the donor declares the value.

Goodwill Dallas

Goodwill Dallas does not offer home pickup, so donating there means loading the furniture yourself and driving it to one of its donation centers, which it says are open every day. It accepts furniture in good condition, small appliances and electronics, but not mattresses or box springs, large appliances such as washers and stoves, hazardous materials, or anything broken, soiled or unsafe. It asks donors to call ahead with a large donation, and receipts are requested through a QR code in the drop-off area before you pull away. Items it cannot sell are recycled where possible, according to its FAQ.

Other charities run their own furniture donation pickup programs with their own lists. Whichever you use, ask three things before the day: will the driver take it from inside, what condition counts, and what happens if the driver says no.

What furniture can be donated? A condition test

The two charities draw the line in similar places, and the IRS sets a matching bar for deducting household items, furniture included: good used condition or better. Run each piece through these checks before booking anything.

• No rips, stains, mold or breaks. Habitat rules out anything visibly stained, ripped, damaged, broken or moldy, and Goodwill turns away broken, soiled or unsafe items.
• Nothing missing. Habitat asks for no missing pieces, so a table needs its leaves and a dresser all of its drawers.
• Working parts work. Recliners, sleeper sofas and anything else with a mechanism should operate properly.
• Clean enough to bring indoors. Habitat asks donors to disinfect items before pickup, and smoke, pet odor or any sign of bed bugs is a reason not to offer a piece at all.
• Not on a refused list. Both charities turn down mattresses and box springs, and Habitat also declines office furniture, armoires, entertainment centers and china cabinets.
• Ready to move. For Habitat's free pickup it must already be disassembled, on the first floor or reachable by elevator, and gathered in one easy-to-reach spot.

A piece that fails is not donation material, and offering it anyway moves the disposal cost onto the charity. For sofas in particular, our guide to getting rid of an old couch in Dallas walks through every option.

What happens to furniture a charity won't take?

It stays with you, so it needs another route. In the City of Dallas, the free monthly brush and bulky collection for residential customers takes household furniture and mattresses, up to 10 cubic yards, placed just behind the curb in front of your home between the Thursday and Sunday before your collection week. Mattresses need their own plan, since neither Habitat nor Goodwill takes them; the mattress disposal guide lists the routes that do work.

A junk removal crew covers the rest, and it can take donatable pieces in the same trip. A single sofa that fails the test is a single-item couch pickup, from $129. Junk Koala prices by the space a load takes in the truck and shows the price online, from an item list or photos, before a crew is dispatched. Every load is sorted as it is loaded: usable items go to donation or resale; metal, electronics and cardboard go to recycling, along with mattresses wherever a facility accepts them; only what remains goes to landfill.

One trade-off is worth knowing: a donation receipt is not promised for items that leave this way. If the deduction matters, give the qualifying pieces to the charity yourself first and book the crew for the remainder. How a load is sorted after pickup explains the rest of the process.

Furniture donation tax deduction: what the IRS asks for

This is general information, not tax advice. IRS Publication 526 is the source to read, and a tax professional can tell you how it applies to you.

• You generally have to itemize. The IRS says that to deduct a charitable contribution you generally must itemize on Schedule A. The new deduction for people who do not itemize, up to $1,000 for 2026 or $2,000 for married couples filing jointly, covers qualifying cash gifts, so it does not reach donated furniture.
• You deduct fair market value, not what you paid. The IRS defines it as the price a willing buyer and a willing seller would agree on, says used furniture is usually worth much less than new, and does not accept formulas such as a percentage of the replacement cost.
• Condition counts. Household items, furniture included, must be in good used condition or better to be deductible, with a narrow exception for a single item deducted at more than $500 with a qualified appraisal.
• Gifts of $250 or more need a written acknowledgment from the charity.
• If your noncash gifts for the year total more than $500, you file Form 8283 with your return.
• Keep evidence of value. The IRS suggests photographs, purchase receipts and similar records, kept in your files rather than sent with the return.

Donating before December 31 to count for this tax year

The IRS lets you deduct a contribution only in the year you actually make it, and a contribution is usually made when it is unconditionally delivered. For furniture, that is normally the day the charity collects it or you drop it off, not the day you book, so a pickup that slips into January counts toward next year.

1. Early in December, sort the house, run each piece through the condition test and photograph what you plan to give.
2. Book Habitat's free pickup as early as you can, since it runs when a driver is available, or plan a drop-off at a Goodwill donation center.
3. If the free pickup cannot happen by December 31, weigh Habitat's paid priority pickup or your own drop-off against waiting until next year.
4. On the day, collect the receipt and note the date of the gift.
5. Once the donations have gone, book a crew for whatever is left.