Charity photography

[rhys]

Is it possible to do photography as charity and hence use it as a method of reducing joint taxes?

What kinds of thing would one have to do to achieve this?

Today my wife decided we should donate an elderly computer to charity - which we did and I spent 3 hours fixing other computers and we decided to donate my labour to charity. At $50 per hour that's not too bad.

I was thinking of doing that or photography as charity pretty much half the time - my wife gets massive tax bills.

[coreypolis]

you have to get the organization to write a letter/receipt stating what you did, when you did it and what value you placed on it. You hve to do a lot to do itemized deductions.

[rhys]

you have to get the organization to write a letter/receipt stating what you did, when you did it and what value you placed on it. You hve to do a lot to do itemized deductions.

No problem. I'm doing that and my wife collects everything since she's the biggest earner and always does the taxes.

[ssim]

I've done some charity work for some non profit organizations. My latest was for some fund raising being done by the local chapter of the Alzheimer society as my mother suffers from that ugly disease. They provided me with a tax receipt equivalent to a percentage of what I would have charged. It worked for me.

I will normally do it for causes that I personally believe in. I also believe in giving back to the community that has been good to me both personally and financially. Sometimes it is just more than just about the money and you have to do things that make you feel good and does good things for the less fortunate.

[Croasdail]

I do photography for the department of social services working with waiting kids who are looking for either foster or adoptive families. The images they had of the kids used to be less the flattering. They too provide me with a letter stating the number of hours I spent with the kids. I am not aggressive with my deduction though as I would do it regardless and I don't want to make this effort turn into a tax nightmare trying to squeeze every cent out of it. If money were the main thing, then just going out and doing more shoots for pay would impact my bottom line much more effectively. Oh, I also shoot for the Special Olympics, a very rewarding day or two a year.

[Hurricane_777]

which we did and I spent 3 hours fixing other computers and we decided to donate my labour to charity. At $50 per hour that's not too bad.


That's not deductible. ;)

[milleker]

I've always wondered this too, but from a large amount of forum threads around the net that I've read on the topic, the general consensus Is that your labor is not deductible. Only material goods.

[SuzyView]

I do photography for the department of social services working with waiting kids who are looking for either foster or adoptive families. The images they had of the kids used to be less the flattering. They too provide me with a letter stating the number of hours I spent with the kids. I am not aggressive with my deduction though as I would do it regardless and I don't want to make this effort turn into a tax nightmare trying to squeeze every cent out of it. If money were the main thing, then just going out and doing more shoots for pay would impact my bottom line much more effectively. Oh, I also shoot for the Special Olympics, a very rewarding day or two a year.

I have a friend here in the DC area who has seen some of the work done by pros to help kids get placed. She said the photographers are amazing and the kids look "angelic" in the pictures, their true spirits. I am going to get into that sometime as well. But I do shoot only for charity and for non-profits. I don't claim anything and I don't charge anything. But I do this because I love it and sometimes, these organizations have small budgets, and no way to pay for good pictures. It's a little crazy, but I actually travel to get to places to shoot for free. But I don't think you can deduct the time on your taxes. If you want to try, I would call the IRS or use their on-line service to make sure of what to do.

[Croasdail]

Suzie.... do it. It is the feel good experience of the year. I do it purely for selfish motives, it makes the rest of my week feel all that much better. The hardest part will not being able to bring them all home with you.

As to the "labor", photography would have to be your primary source of income to be able to deduct and in-kind donation of services. But that doesn't stop prevent you from deducting other expenses like travel and miles. Transportation cost is probably the easiest to deduct and raises the least flags. For me, I am so far into AMT that I receive next to no tax benefit from my donated photo work. I do it because I doubt I will ever make a name for myself because of the quality of my work, but hopefully doing this will leave a lasting impression for someone.