Serving as a Volunteer? You Don’t Have To Wait for Heaven to Collect Your Reward

Every weekend, my wife and I drive to Malibu and saddle up our horses.   If you are passing by, you may do a double-take.  Looking closer, you would realize that we are dressed in park ranger uniforms equipped with a first aid kit, GPS, and police radio.  Our mission: to patrol the National and State Parks assisting hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers.  In other words, we are the eyes and ears of the licensed rangers and are allowed to write off the costs of doing these patrols as an unreimbursed volunteer charitable deduction.  Our tax proof is not only the receipts and expenditures, but a report by the National Park Service that logs every minute of our volunteering.  So, if the federal government (IRS) wants to pester us about the deduction, they can argue with the federal government (NPS).

Are you volunteering for schools? Houses of worship?  Boy Scouts?  Your good deeds will not go unrewarded.  Here are some tips:

1. You can deduct 14 cents a mile for the endless driving you do for an organization
2. Did you donate baked cookies?  Save the receipt, you can deduct the cost of the cookies.
3. What about the washing of your scout uniform?  Deduct it.
4. Manditory conventions for the organization (my grandfather went to them for the Masons).

To deduct any of these, you must have proof that you paid for them and a letter from the organization authenticating them as performed for the organization.

Charitable and governmental organizations are in a financial crunch, and need your services to help meet the needs of the public.  In our case, the volunteers of the Santa Monica Mountains federal and state parks, saved the parks over $1.3 million in 2009.  However, when serving the organization, don’t forget to claim your just reward by deducting it on your tax return.

Discuss you personal situation with a tax professional before making any decisions.

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