I rented a large truck and took a big charity donation of goods to Ruidoso for forest fire relief. I set up an area at the fire station and distributed the items for several days. Can I claim my expenses for the truck rental, lodging and gas?

[Vanessa A]

Probably  not.  In order to claim a charitable donation, you would need to make the donation directly to a qualified 501c3.  If you did not and it was just you as a person doing this, the donations would not be deductible.  

If you did do it through a qualified 501c3, then yes, this would all be deductible as donation expenses. However, in order to deduct donation expenses, you will need to take the Itemized Deductions instead of the standard deduction.  In order to benefit from them, your Itemized deductions would need to be greater than your standard deduction. 

Itemized expenses include mortgage interest, gambling losses up to winnings,  charitable contributions, state and local taxes up to $10,000, medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your AGI and casualty and losses in excess of 10% of you AGI with the first $100 not counting towards the loss.  Your health insurance and all medical expenses are only deductible for the amount that is over 7.5% of your AGI.  This means if your AGI is $50,000, then the amount that is over $3,750 is deductible.  

Then your total itemized expenses would need to be greater than your standard deduction below in order to benefit from your expenses. 

The 2024 Standard Deductions are as follows:

• Married Filing Joint (MFJ)              $29,200
• Married Filing Separate (MFS)      $14,600
• Head of Household (HOH)             $21,900 
• Single                                                 $14,600                                

Blind or over 65 and MFJ or MFS add $1,550

Single or HOH if blind or over 65 add $1,950

Standard versus Itemized Deduction

Pub 526 Charitable Contributions

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

Donations are only deductible if they are made by, to or through a registered tax exempt organization (mostly 501(c)(3) but there are a few more types) or if made to a state or local government or branch of government.  You would need a letter from the organization acknowledging your service, although the letter does not have to provide the dollar value of your assistance.

Then if the value of donated items is more than $5000, you will have additional documentation requirements including a requirement to have the goods appraised first. 

Direct donations to individuals, no matter how needy, are never tax deductible.