Pro-Bono Charity Work - Is this tax deductible?

Anyone know about this?

[martinibuster]

I was wondering if there were any tax advantages to doing free work for charities, and if so how is this calculated? Hourly or flat fee?

Have you actually claimed pro-bono work on your taxes?

Thanks!

[paragon]

hey martinibuster,

I believe you can get a tax receipt from the charity for your service. Then its easy to claim that on your taxes.

hope this helps.

[Go60Guy]

Hey Martinibuster -

I'd be very careful. There should be no question that you can deduct your expenses. But, I think, deducting the value of your services is another question.

[martinibuster]

Wow!
Both advice makes sense. I guess this is a question best addressed by my accountant.

:) Y

[oilman]

I'll preface this with: I am NOT an accountant

I used to do a fair bit of charity work and how it works up here (Canada) is that you do the work then you get a tax receipt that you can claim. The twist is that you have to record the income as if you made the money then donated it to charity. If you never record the income it's too big a tax loophole for the gov't to leave open.

so..I do $3000 worth of work and get a receipt for $3000 and I also have to record $3000 in income. That's the beauty of double entry accounting :)

[GaryK]

I do a lot of pro bono work for local charities in the US. According to my CPA I cannot and do not deduct anything for my services. If there are actual expenses involved, such as me paying the bill for hosting a charity's website, then those expenses are deductible.

Edited for spelling.

[homegirl]

Just wanted to add my voice to Gary's. Talked to my CPA this weekend (during tax preparation) and she said the same thing: services are not tax-deductible but expenses are.

On an interesting note, I don't know how many here barter but in the U.S., if you accept barter for services, then for tax purposes, you list out the value of your services in US$ but it essentially amounts to a wash. (You still gotta list, though.)

[wingslevel]

what Gary said...

[rogerd]

When calculating your expenses, don't forget non-obvious things like auto mileage for a client visit, etc.

[martinibuster]

Great input, thanks. The consensus here seems to be that our time is not money. But what we're out of pocket is. This helps.

[kevinpate]

The no deduction for your time is spot on. Expenses incurred are deductible. On milage, keep in midn that the allowable rate for doing volunteer work is not the same rate as business expense milage rate So if in addition to your trips to discuss content, design etc, you get hooked on the org. and decide to shuttle cookies, popcorn, candy bars, etc. from point a to point B for them, and that's all you're doing, it's a different rate.
Bottom line, if you don't have an accountant or an beancounter as a good friend, find yourself one.

[OneBigCelt]

I do my church website, and I talked to a bunch of folks and determined that no you can't becasue you have to donate something of value if you donate a $1000 website then you would have had to have had(earned that) so you technicaly you need to declare $1000 value on income then you can get the (%) deduction. It work out better for me when the church started paying me a very small matainence fee.

Hope this helps