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Tax Deductions
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Re: Deduction for Charitable Travel

If you volunteer at a hospital in Botswana, and you are doing so through a US charity, the amount you spend to get to Botswana and to live there might be deductible as a charitable donation. Same applies to the money spent for your wife's travel is she will also be working at the hospital in Botswana.

You can't put a value on your time, however, and claim that as a charitable donation.

Here are the rules from IRS Publication 526 on Charitable Contributions:

Travel. Generally, you can claim a charitable contribution deduction for travel expenses necessarily incurred while you are away from home performing services for a charitable organization only if there is no significant element of personal pleasure, recreation, or vacation in the travel. This applies whether you pay the expenses directly or indirectly. You are paying the expenses indirectly if you make a payment to the charitable organization and the organization pays for your travel expenses.

The deduction for travel expenses will not be denied simply because you enjoy providing services to the charitable organization. Even if you enjoy the trip, you can take a charitable contribution deduction for your travel expenses if you are on duty in a genuine and substantial sense throughout the trip. However, if you have only nominal duties, or if for significant parts of the trip you do not have any duties, you cannot deduct your travel expenses.

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