Responses to:
Volunteers Should Not Be Second-Class Taxpayers
Submitted on 15 October 2008 by James,
Ride Connection,
Development Manager
Portland, OR USA
What people need to do is contact their legislators. There are/were two bills introduced in the Senate and House, (H.R.6854-Fair Deal for Volunteer Act and S.3532-the Give Act) that would help volunteers who drive their own vehicle for charity purposes. It would make all reimbursed money not subject to tax and it would allow those who do not receive reimbursement to deduct the same as medical reimbursement, which is 27 cents per mile. Currently anything a volunteer receives over 14 cents per mile they are suppose to report to the IRS as income and if they do not receive any reimbursement they can only deduct 14 cents per mile.
Submitted on 20 July 2008 by H. Roberts,
PLNJ, Inc.,
President,
Keyport/NJ USA
100% volunteer organizations and community efforts led & run entirely on volunteer-fuel feel the pain at the pump year round; year after year! It is a shame that it takes $4.00 a gallon to raise awareness and speeches by those in the position to be heard.
It has been my recruiting experience, that a large number of volunteers are not told (until they inquire or complain) what the tax laws allow for reimbursement and deduction and while the figure is agreeably way too low--volunteers should always be informed by VRM's and others recruiting what relief does exist during agency interview...not when frustration leads to exit interviews and low attendance.
This hot topic is another solid reason why inclusion in agency challenges engages volunteers en masse to write, sign and join the voices asking for proper gas reimbursement rates!
This immediate issue is another good example for drafting petitions prepared for member/attendee signature at national conferences and national association workshops.
So, if you are in the position to be heard on this topic, exercise your rights through collective wisdom! Please do not state the obvious waiting for someone else to pick up the ball. Leadership of this magnitude is what (we) the non profit sector needs.
Submitted July 15, 2008 by David A. Ross, J.D., Public Policy Officer, Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations, Harrisburg, PA
It’s great to see Energize, Inc, taking a stand to raise the Charitable Mileage Rate. This is leadership on an important national issue. We look forward to working with you.
PANO is leading a nationwide coalition to raise the Charitable Mileage Rate. H.R.2020 would raise the embarrassingly low 14 cents per mile Charitable Mileage Rate to the Standard Mileage Rate that businesses receive (currently 58.5 cents per mile). With gas prices at $4 per gallon, it costs between 50 and 70 cents to drive a car one mile. Programs like Meals-on-Wheels are facing critical volunteer shortages. And they are not alone. Volunteers who use their own vehicle for charitable service need relief. Volunteers are essential to the delivery of charitable service, return more to the community than they receive, and are in critically short supply.
Action Alert: http://capwiz.com/pano/issues/alert/?alertid=11426646&type=CO&show_alert=1
More information:
http://www.pano.org/publicpolicy/publicpolicy-irs_CRR.php
Submitted July 10, 2008 by Rob Jackson,
Director of Development and Innovation,
Volunteering England
You may be interested in Volunteering England’s newly published position statement of volunteer fuel expenses : http://www.volunteering.org.uk/WhatWeDo/Policy/whatwearesaying/volunteermileage.htm.
Submitted July 8, 2008 by Carole Damon,
Volunteer Coordinators' Council,
Executive Director,
Kansas City, MO USA
While the dollar value of volunteering doesn't tell the whole story of why volunteers are so critical, it does offer a way to demonstrate that volunteerism delivers economic benefit to the community. In Kansas City, that benefit totals over $1.3 billion annually. If volunteerism was considered an "industry", it would rank among the top 10 industries in our area.
The lack of parity between the mileage deductions allowed for business and charitable driving is short-sighted at best. Linda Graff posed this question at our conference last year: "What happens when the volunteers stop coming?" With the possibility of gas prices reaching $7 a gallon by year-end and no economic relief in sight for our volunteers, we may have the answer to that question sooner rather than later.
Submitted July 7, 2008 by Lynn McLarnon, Hospice King-Aurora, Canada
Could you please let me know where you sourced the Canadian information in your Hot Topic: "Canada follows the US lead at 14 cents"? I have contacted Revenue Canada, and they are not able to confirm this. Many thanks.
Susan replies on July 8:
As soon as I got your e-mail yesterday, I went looking for my source – and now, after almost 5 hours of searching over two days, I’m afraid that I can’t find it and so agree that the original information in the Hot Topic was wrong. SO SORRY! But I am so appreciative of your e-mail because now I corrected it. As you'll see, I removed the wrong information and added a link to testimony that Ruth MacKenzie made on behalf of Volunteer Canada, making the case for such deductions: see http://www.volunteer.ca/en/remarks-special-senate-committee-aging-monday-april-28-2008. Thank you for contacting me!
Submitted July 3 2008 by Eileen Iaizzo,
Neighborhood Health Clinic,
Volunteer Coordinator,
Naples, FL USA
I am getting nowhere fast with our legislators. Has anyone given thought to having volunteers do the following?
- Document their mileage and cost.
- Submit their documentation to the charity as an in-kind donation.
- Receive an acknowledgement from the charity.
- Use it as a deduction in their tax return.
We definitely need a change in a very obsolete ruling.
Submitted July 3 2008 by Kelly R. Moore,
VRM Consulting,
Principal/Owner,
Salt Lake City, Utah USA
I have been working with our state representative, Chris Cannon to increase the charitable rate from 14 cents to something more in keeping with the business rate. I am told that there are two bills in the house Ways and Means committee to address this issue. Please go online to their site waysandmeans.house.gov and post a message. We definitely need a unified voice.
Thanks, Kelly -- we checked and found one bill,
"Reimbursing Our American Drivers (ROAD) Act of 2008," introduced as S. 3032 on May 19, 2008 by Sen. Charles Schumer [D-NY] (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-3032) and reintroduced identically as H.R. 6283 on June 17, 2008 by
Rep. John Lewis [D-GA] ( http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6283). Both are indeed now in committee. However, this bill sets the charitable mileage deduction at $.40/mile, rather than as a set percentage of the business deduction, which means we'd go through this again in a few years. But people who contact their Congresspeople should have this information. (from Susan, July 7)
Submitted July 3, 2008 by anonymously by Diane,
Volunteer Coordinator, CA US
I feel strongly about raising the amount of the mileage deduction for our volunteers. They should be able to take the full amount the government allows - 58.5 cents. Currently we have some funds to help our volunteers with mileage but I'm not sure how long that will last. I'm writing letters to Congress!
Submitted July 3, 2008 by Steve McCurley
The Hot Topic beat USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-02-Charities_N.htm
An Addendum: Submitted July 1, 2008 by Dana Wiley, Energize, Inc.
It's important to note that – although it's much more cumbersome than using the standard mileage deduction – volunteers can deduct unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses, such as the cost of gas and oil, that are directly related to the use of a car in giving services to a charitable organization. The following are some links to explanations of the process, plus a plea to Congress much as Susan suggests, but this time from Consumer Reports.
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