As a member of the USCG Auxiliary, I pay annual dues, buy my uniforms and have travel and meal expenses for my weekend duty. Can I claim these expenses and if so where?

[ToddL]

Do you get paid?

[mrdoug1948]

No, strictly volunteer organization.

[ToddL · Accepted solution]

If you itemize, you can deduct the cost of uniforms, travel and meals away from home as charitable deductions.  For your purposes, treat them as Cash Contributions (except for the mileage).

From the USCG Auxiliary official website (http://join.cgaux.org/ben.php:(

Tax Deductions

Uniforms, their cleaning and maintenance, and reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred in the performance of your duties are "considered" contributions for tax purposes. 

Entering your donations in TurboTax:

1. Open (continue) your return in TurboTax.
2. In the search box, search for donations and then click the "Jump to" link in the search results.
3. Answer Yes to Did you make any donations to charity?
4. On the next screen, answer Yes if you want to import your donations from ItsDeductible; otherwise answer No.
5. Continue with the onscreen instructions

Entering Mileage: Go to "add another charity"  In addition to putting in a name it lets you choose "Items, Money, Stock, or Mileage" as the nature of your donation.  Just use "various"(or USCG Auxiliary) for the charity name and choose Mileage.

You'll need TurboTax Deluxe (or higher), as our Free Edition and Basic versions don't support the Schedule A that's needed to report charitable contributions.