Taxpayer asks:
Hi! Thank you for your time.
My husband and I are volunteering at a charity event for a few days, and we have to have a babysitter. She’s babysitting at no cost to us (she’s family), but can she deduct any of her babysitting expenses? Would it be charitable giving on her part? Thank you!
Taxgirl says:
Unfortunately, no. You cannot claim the value of your time as a charitable deduction on your federal income tax return even if you’re volunteering directly for a charity. This is true even if you can value your time (for example, $10/hour for babysitting or $60/hour for house painting).
You can typically deduct associated expenses, like mileage, for volunteering with a qualified charitable organization; in this case, however, your babysitter is doing this as a favor for you (which is super nice) and not as a direct benefit to the charity. Those expenses would not be deductible.
(On the plus side, your babysitter is not missing out on much. Congress hasn’t changed the charitable mileage deduction since the Clinton era, and it remains just 14 cents per mile.)
Before you go: be sure to read my disclaimer. Remember, I’m a lawyer and we love disclaimers.
If you have a question, here’s how to Ask The Taxgirl.
