Are volunteer hours tax deductible?

Question

This is a question I was asked by a fellow military spouse. We volunteer at an orphanage in S. Korea.

Wow, thanks so much for all the replies! I was not sure I would even get one :-) Tax incentives for volunteer hours would be nice, but then we might some "scroungers" instead of dedicated souls ;-) lol

Answer 1

The hours are not tax deductible, but if it's a recognized charity you can claim anything you donate and the transportation expenses to and fro or any travel involving the children or the organization. Also, any expenses incurred like gifts, notebooks, etc.

Answer 2

There is not really a specific number of hours. However, the volunteering has to be the reason for the trip. You cannot deduct the cost of going on vacation by doing some volunteer work for an hour. You have to do enough volunteer work and little enough of everything else that one might travel to the country to do (sightseeing, etc.), so that the purpose of the trip is clearly to do the volunteer work, and not to get to see the country.

Answer 3

Value of services performed for charitable purposes is not tax deductible. Only the value or basis of property donated is. However, It is my personal opinion that it should be. In these endeavors, people's time and effort is far more valuable than any donations that they might give. There should be some kind of incentive to encourage this behavior to be completely consistent with the public policy that underlies charitable donations..

Answer 4

I'm not an accountant, but if you have a business and provide a service that has an hourly rate, I would think the volunteering might be seens as a contribution. If it's a non-profit that you're helping, then you might provide them with an invoice marked as a contribution, in which case, it could be deductible. Check with your accountant to see if that's possible. Otherwise, probably not.

Answer 5

Your time for volunteering is not tax deductable. Expenses you incur and miles you drive while volunteering is tax deductable though. Plus anything that you gave to the organization. Note that your volunteering must be affiliated with an actual organization.

Answer 6

You obviously don't do it out of the goodness of your heart if you're scrounging around trying to find a way to profit from it.

Answer 7

Write it off as charity for the gas money and lunch money.

Answer 8

If not? They should be.

Answer 9

No.

Answer 10

No.