Here's something that doesn't seem to
be covered by the literature, although
one would think it's a fairly common
situation.
Client is a member of a church which
is basically just struggling to stay
open with a handful of congregants.
There is no longer any office staff
and the officers are all volunteers
who aren't professionals in their
assigned tasks (e.g. the treasurer is
a civil engineer, not an accountant)
but are each just trying to do what
they can to keep the place afloat. A
large part of this is several of them
tend to buy supplies for the church
as needed out of their own pockets
without reimbursement.
In this case, the client has been
ordering and paying himself for the
catered food bought for the meals
which are held after services some
weeks. Last year this came to 15
purchases totaling around $7600.
So, what to do about reporting this on
Form 8283? While 2/3 of the buys were
under $500 the rest were over that
($600-$1500), but perhaps that's enough
to spread them all over multiple lines
in Section A. On the other hand, they're
technically a "group of similar items"
totaling over $5000, which would seem
to require inclusion in Section B
(something I've never had to do in all
my years of filing 8283s for household
goods donations). If that's the case,
how exactly does one get a qualified
appraisal of brisket, potato salad and
cookies? Any thoughts on how best to
handle this without risking the client
getting jammed up (food pun intended)?
Thanks in advance for any insights.
--
Thanks, Ira, but the question still arises
as to whether this actually qualifies as
"volunteer expenses". That would cover
things like the gas & parking to drive his
car to pick up the food from the caterer
instead of it being delivered. This instead
seems to fall into the realm of donation of
supplies, just as if he had purchased meat
and produce at the supermarket from which
one of the other congregants then cooked
meals or as when someone buys spray cleaner
and garbage bags for the church building on
their own Amazon account. They're not really
expenses incurred in the course of the donor
actually performing volunteer services, and
as the church got the physical items rather
than the cash it seems they still would have
to be reported on Schedule A Line 12 rather
than Line 11, with the high amount thereon
triggering the need for Form 8283.
Complicating matters further is it now turns
out the client also paid the AirBnb bill for
a visiting clergyman who came to give sermons
one weekend. Again, neither a direct cash
contribution to the church nor a direct cost
of volunteering, so a bit fuzzy on the Line
11/12 distinction here.
Yes, ideally he (and everyone else) should
be writing checks to the church and the
church buying from its own account--and I'm
told others there have pointed this out
repeatedly--but again I'm not dealing with
someone sophisticated in tax matters, just
someone who acts upon his charitable urges
as the circumstances come up.
(As to documentation, there's plenty of it
for the expenses paid, which is what I was
given, but the church is rather lax about
non-cash acknowledgment letters, again
simply because the people in charge aren't
up on such things.)
On 5/30/2022 10:19 AM, ira smilovitz wrote:
On Sunday, May 29, 2022 at 11:59:06 PM UTC-4, David Samuel Barr wrote:
Here's something that doesn't seem to
be covered by the literature, although
one would think it's a fairly common
situation.
Client is a member of a church which
is basically just struggling to stay
open with a handful of congregants.
There is no longer any office staff
and the officers are all volunteers
who aren't professionals in their
assigned tasks (e.g. the treasurer is
a civil engineer, not an accountant)
but are each just trying to do what
they can to keep the place afloat. A
large part of this is several of them
tend to buy supplies for the church
as needed out of their own pockets
without reimbursement.
In this case, the client has been
ordering and paying himself for the
catered food bought for the meals
which are held after services some
weeks. Last year this came to 15
purchases totaling around $7600.
So, what to do about reporting this on
Form 8283? While 2/3 of the buys were
under $500 the rest were over that
($600-$1500), but perhaps that's enough
to spread them all over multiple lines
in Section A. On the other hand, they're
technically a "group of similar items"
totaling over $5000, which would seem
to require inclusion in Section B
(something I've never had to do in all
my years of filing 8283s for household
goods donations). If that's the case,
how exactly does one get a qualified
appraisal of brisket, potato salad and
cookies? Any thoughts on how best to
handle this without risking the client
getting jammed up (food pun intended)?
Thanks in advance for any insights.
--
Simple answer. You don't use Form 8283. See the instructions:
"Do not use Form 8283 to report out-of-pocket
expenses for volunteer work or amounts you gave by
check or credit card. Treat these items as cash
contributions. Also, do not use Form 8283 to figure your
charitable contribution deduction. For details on how to
figure the amount of the deduction, see your tax return
instructions and Pub. 526, Charitable Contributions."
What you do need, however, is the usual contemporaneous acknowledgement from the church:
(from Pub. 526):
"1. You must have adequate records to prove the amount of the expenses.
2. You must get an acknowledgment from the qualified organization that contains:
a. A description of the services you provided,
b. A statement of whether or not the organization provided you any goods or services
to reimburse you for the expenses you incurred,
c. A description and a good faith estimate of the value of any goods or services
(other than intangible religious benefits) provided to reimburse
you, and
d. A statement that the only benefit you received was an intangible religious benefit,
if that was the case. The acknowledgment doesn't need to describe or estimate the value of an intangible religious benefit."
Ira Smilovitz, EA
Leonia, NJ
--
On Sunday, May 29, 2022 at 11:59:06 PM UTC-4, David Samuel Barr wrote:
Here's something that doesn't seem to
be covered by the literature, although
one would think it's a fairly common
situation.
Client is a member of a church which
is basically just struggling to stay
open with a handful of congregants.
There is no longer any office staff
and the officers are all volunteers
who aren't professionals in their
assigned tasks (e.g. the treasurer is
a civil engineer, not an accountant)
but are each just trying to do what
they can to keep the place afloat. A
large part of this is several of them
tend to buy supplies for the church
as needed out of their own pockets
without reimbursement.
In this case, the client has been
ordering and paying himself for the
catered food bought for the meals
which are held after services some
weeks. Last year this came to 15
purchases totaling around $7600.
So, what to do about reporting this on
Form 8283? While 2/3 of the buys were
under $500 the rest were over that
($600-$1500), but perhaps that's enough
to spread them all over multiple lines
in Section A. On the other hand, they're
technically a "group of similar items"
totaling over $5000, which would seem
to require inclusion in Section B
(something I've never had to do in all
my years of filing 8283s for household
goods donations). If that's the case,
how exactly does one get a qualified
appraisal of brisket, potato salad and
cookies? Any thoughts on how best to
handle this without risking the client
getting jammed up (food pun intended)?
Thanks in advance for any insights.
--
Simple answer. You don't use Form 8283. See the instructions:
"Do not use Form 8283 to report out-of-pocket
expenses for volunteer work or amounts you gave by
check or credit card. Treat these items as cash
contributions. Also, do not use Form 8283 to figure your
charitable contribution deduction. For details on how to
figure the amount of the deduction, see your tax return
instructions and Pub. 526, Charitable Contributions."
What you do need, however, is the usual contemporaneous acknowledgement from the church:
(from Pub. 526):
"1. You must have adequate records to prove the amount of the expenses.
2. You must get an acknowledgment from the qualified organization that contains:
a. A description of the services you provided,
b. A statement of whether or not the organization provided you any goods or services
to reimburse you for the expenses you incurred,
c. A description and a good faith estimate of the value of any goods or services
(other than intangible religious benefits) provided to reimburse
you, and
d. A statement that the only benefit you received was an intangible religious benefit,
if that was the case. The acknowledgment doesn't need to describe or
estimate the value of an intangible religious benefit."
Ira Smilovitz, EA
Leonia, NJ
Here's something that doesn't seem to
be covered by the literature, although
one would think it's a fairly common
situation.
Client is a member of a church which
is basically just struggling to stay
open with a handful of congregants.
There is no longer any office staff
and the officers are all volunteers
who aren't professionals in their
assigned tasks (e.g. the treasurer is
a civil engineer, not an accountant)
but are each just trying to do what
they can to keep the place afloat. A
large part of this is several of them
tend to buy supplies for the church
as needed out of their own pockets
without reimbursement.
In this case, the client has been
ordering and paying himself for the
catered food bought for the meals
which are held after services some
weeks. Last year this came to 15
purchases totaling around $7600.
So, what to do about reporting this on
Form 8283? While 2/3 of the buys were
under $500 the rest were over that
($600-$1500), but perhaps that's enough
to spread them all over multiple lines
in Section A. On the other hand, they're
technically a "group of similar items"
totaling over $5000, which would seem
to require inclusion in Section B
(something I've never had to do in all
my years of filing 8283s for household
goods donations). If that's the case,
how exactly does one get a qualified
appraisal of brisket, potato salad and
cookies? Any thoughts on how best to
handle this without risking the client
getting jammed up (food pun intended)?
Thanks in advance for any insights.
On 5/29/2022 10:55 PM, David Samuel Barr wrote:
Here's something that doesn't seem toThe apparent intent of Form 8283 is to report donations of property.
be covered by the literature, although
one would think it's a fairly common
situation.
Client is a member of a church which
is basically just struggling to stay
open with a handful of congregants.
There is no longer any office staff
and the officers are all volunteers
who aren't professionals in their
assigned tasks (e.g. the treasurer is
a civil engineer, not an accountant)
but are each just trying to do what
they can to keep the place afloat. A
large part of this is several of them
tend to buy supplies for the church
as needed out of their own pockets
without reimbursement.
In this case, the client has been
ordering and paying himself for the
catered food bought for the meals
which are held after services some
weeks. Last year this came to 15
purchases totaling around $7600.
So, what to do about reporting this on
Form 8283? While 2/3 of the buys were
under $500 the rest were over that
($600-$1500), but perhaps that's enough
to spread them all over multiple lines
in Section A. On the other hand, they're
technically a "group of similar items"
totaling over $5000, which would seem
to require inclusion in Section B
(something I've never had to do in all
my years of filing 8283s for household
goods donations). If that's the case,
how exactly does one get a qualified
appraisal of brisket, potato salad and
cookies? Any thoughts on how best to
handle this without risking the client
getting jammed up (food pun intended)?
Thanks in advance for any insights.
Your client catered meals after church services and had out of pocket expenses in doing so. In the context you have described, I see your
client as a volunteer providing a simple service (catered meals) for the church that has associated out-of-pocket cash costs that your client
paid. The Publication 526 instructions of "Do not use Form 8283 to
report out-of-pocket expenses for volunteer work or amounts you gave by
check or credit card. Treat these items as cash contributions." seems to
make much more sense than trying to find a way to make Form 8283 work. I simply don't see your client's contributions as "property" in the Form
8283 context.
Either way, cash contributions of over $250 or Form 8283 contributions
over $500 require acknowledgement from the church of the contribution in order for your client to deduct them. Since the money didn't flow thru
the church, the acknowledgement can't with certainty state a value of
the contribution. About all the church can do is say "Thank you for the generous contribution of the meal after the March 29, 2022 church
service." and it is up to your client to document the associated out-of-pocket expenses expenses.
Good Luck.
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