RMJfA- Fw: Great News! Animal-Rescue Volunteer Allowed to Write Off Expenses

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Valerie Traina
Sent: Jun 13, 2011 12:22 PM
To: Valerie Traina
Subject: Great News! Animal-Rescue Volunteer Allowed to Write Off Expenses

Please circulate this wonderful news to all your friends in animal rescue!

 

Thanks,

Val
 

Val Traina

vtraina2002@yahoo.com

"Vivisection is a social ill, because if it increases human knowledge it does so at the expense of human character."

     - George Bernard Shaw

 

"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell, 1984

 

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Valerie Traina <valerie.traina@vehicleprojects.com>
To: "vtraina2002@yahoo.com" <vtraina2002@yahoo.com>; "valexplore@hotmail.com" <valexplore@hotmail.com>
Sent: Mon, June 13, 2011 11:53:04 AM
Subject: Animal-Rescue Volunteer Allowed to Write Off Expenses

Animal-Rescue Volunteer Allowed to Write Off Expenses

June 13, 2011, 10:21 am

An animal-rescue volunteer has won a case in the U.S. Tax Court that enables other volunteers to take charitable deductions for their efforts, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Jan Van Dusen, a volunteer at the nonprofit Fix Our Ferals, incurred $12,068 caring for 70 stray cats and tried to deduct the expenses on her 2004 tax return. Among the expenses she wrote off were cat food, veterinarian bills, litter, paper towels, garbage bags, and a portion of utility bills.

But the IRS said they were personal expenses and therefore not eligible for a tax break. Ms. Van Dusen, a former lawyer, sued, representing herself. In 2009 the case landed in the Tax Court.

Judge Richard Morrison ultimately ruled that Ms. Van Dusen's bills were ones incurred in helping a charity and therefore eligible to be deducted. The amount she will be able to claim has not been determined yet.

Jonathan Lovvorn, chief counsel for the Humane Society of the United States , said, the decision was important because "this is the first time the court has addressed these expenses."

Published in Chronicle of Philanthropy.

 

Valerie A. Traina

Research/Executive Assistant to the President

Vehicle Projects Inc

200 Violet Street, Suite 100

Golden, CO 80401

Tel:  +1 303 296 4218 ext 22

Fax: +1 303 296 4219

valerie.traina@vehicleprojects.com

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