Donate unused vacation time/pay to a Catastrophic Leave fund - deductible donation?

[tascarbrough]

The college district in which I work provides the option for those of us who accumulate excess vacation time each year: receive payment for the unused time or donate the unused time to a Catastrophic Leave fund from which an employee may apply for an extension of wages when their own sick and vacation time has been depleted. I donated several weeks of unused vacation time, which I would have received more than $3,000 for had I chosen to receive payment instead. May I deduct this as a charitable contribution to the college district?

[NancyG · Accepted solution]

No, since you are not making a cash donation directly to a charity, the leave-donation program does not use any of your taxable earned income.

Since you will not be taxed on the value of the leave, you can not take a charitable contribution deduction.

Note: because the amount is not included in your income, and does not change anything on your annual Form 1040 federal income tax return, you generally get the same financial result whether you would take a standard deduction or itemize your charitable contribution.

 See this link from the IRS: https://www.irs.gov/uac/frequently-asked-questions-about-leave-donation-for-victims-of-hurricane-kat...