WOW - mum24, I REALLY appreciate it! You don't know how much I've been sweating this issue for the past couple of weeks. I thinking - Oh, God, the IRS is gonna get me!! How am I going to ask to be reimbursed from this guy? I thought I was doing something nice and now it's turned into this monster!! So, you made me feel a lot better. We have virtually NO volunteer base and for this guy to be willing to be trained, etc. I thought it was reasonable to reimburse him for mileage. It all began because there's another conference in February which I was going to write a reimbursement and I looked up the rate and discovered this other "for charitable organizations" issue but now I feel a WHOLE lot better. Thanks!!! :cool:

GAPTA--Don't worry about this too much; it's not against any regulation, and the concept itself seems reasonable.

The standard amounts set up by the IRS are done so that there's an easy way for businesses to be able to deduct these reimbursements as expenses on their tax returns. These amounts may or may not bear any resemblence to reality. In the case of the rate for charitable organizations, that rate is set by statute and doesn't get updated regularly the way the business rate does; it also doesn't include some things that the business rate does, so it's apples and oranges. And, given the cost of gas these days, it's probably well below what your volunteer actually spent going to the conference.

Many companies reimburse at a rate higher or lower than the IRS rate, for a variety of different reasons. There is nothing that says that you have to reimburse at a certain rate. But if an organization does choose to use a standard mileage rate, and then they reimburse at a higher rate than the IRS allows, then they just can't take the excess payment as a deduction on their tax return.

So...technically, (if your group files a return) you should make an adjustment on your tax return so that if you paid this guy $300, and by the $0.14 rate you should have only paid $100, you would only list $100 of gas expenses on your tax return, not $300. But, you don't pay any taxes anyway, so, it's really not worth going through all that hassle, especially for a one-time thing.

By paying this guy the higher rate, you reimbursed him not only for gas, but also depreciation/wear and tear on his car, and a portion of a variety of repair expenses, even his insurance. It was probably a lot more than he would have expected, and, for a one time thing, yes, probably more than he "should" have received.

If it were me, for a going forward policy I would just get receipts for gas and base the reimbursement on the gas costs (and any tolls people might have to pay). And come up with a list of circumstances where you would reimburse for gas, so that it doesn't turn into a situation where everyone is asking you for something whenever they drive 2 miles to the grocery store.

Hope this makes sense....

At $2.50 per gallon, and if you're absolutely confident that your PTO will benefit from this member's attendance at the conference, yes, I would reimburse him. How about asking him to present a report of the conference at a future PTO meeting. That way, everyone knows the value of the conference and why it was reasonable to pay for his gas.

I appreciate everyone's responses but this is NOT a tax deduction. Remember that itemized deductions have to exceed the standard deduction. The standard deduction for the member's family is $17,000 (married with four kids) so this little one-time $300 in mileage is not the issue for taxes. The issue is whether it was OK to reimburse him for that one time out-of-town trip. He has never asked for reimbursements for business in town but I thought it would be a nice gesture to send him to this conference and reimburse his mileage. I think I've started a storm that makes me feel really, really bad. I'm just ready to end everything. :confused:

Since it's tax time, I want to second Tim's response that you can deduct your mileage when you are on official non-profit group business. I take my kids to school every day (and pick them up) and I go in every morning, collect our mail and do PTO business and then come back in the afternoon and sort the mail and do more business, I figured out how many miles it was back and forth and took a deduction for my mileage. It wasn't much but every little bit helps.

I would take the information you have to your board. Explain your situation. Ask them what amount they think is appropriate to use for future reference, this way no one can complain because your group decided on it.