My spouse & I are retired with fair incomes, & we volunteer as camp hosts. Can we deduct expenses on tax?

Answer 1

If you volunteer for a qualified charitable organization, you can deduct any unreimbursed out of pocket expenses, including mileage at 14 cents a mile, as charitable contributions if and only if you itemize.

Answer 2

If the camp is a qualified charity (ask the camp), then your out-of-pocket expenses would be charitable contributions. Total your out-of-pocket expenses and list those amounts as cash contributions to that camp in the charitable contribution section of Schedule A.

Also total your mileage related to this charity and list those miles. Your software will handle the mileage computation (it is 14 cents a mile).

Next year, you would need to present your out-of-pocket expenses to the camp and get an acknowledgement from them for your records.

Answer 3

If you volunteered for a qualified charitable organization (Scouting immediately comes to mind but there are plenty of others) you can deduct your actual out-of-pocket costs. You cannot deduct the value of your time, however. You must itemize your deductions to claim that, and of course you must have enough deductions to make itemizing worthwhile.