Volunteer travel and expenses for work performed for a qualified charitable organization may be claimed as a Charitable Contribution on Schedule A, Itemized Deductions. Note: If you take the standard deduction, you will not be able to deduct these contributions.
To enter your charitable contributions in TurboTax:
- Open (continue) your return in TurboTax.
- In the search box, search for donations and then click the "Jump to" link in the search results.
- Answer Yes to Did you make any donations to charity?
- On the next screen, answer Yes if you want to import any donations from ItsDeductible; otherwise answer No.
- Continue with the onscreen instructions. You'll have the option to Add Mileage and Travel Expenses for your volunteer work. (Click the attachments below to enlarge them for reference.)
See the FAQ below, Is volunteer work deductible?, for more information.
Although you can't deduct the value of your time or service, you can deduct expenses related to volunteering for a qualified organization as long as those expenses are:
- Directly and solely connected with the volunteer work you provided; and
- Not reimbursed; and
- Not considered personal, living, or family expenses.
For example, if you voluntarily fixed up an elderly neighbor's house one weekend, it wouldn't be deductible because it wasn't done through a qualified charitable organization.
But if you did similar voluntary work through a qualified organization, you could deduct mileage to and from the job site as well as any unreimbursed supplies you purchased to carry out the work. However, you wouldn't be able to deduct the value of your time or expertise, nor could you deduct your meals or the cost of a babysitter (those are living/family expenses).
To enter eligible expenses related to voluntary charity work, follow the same directions for entering charitable donations.
