vacation donated to Typhoon Haiyan relief

[joanmcq]

client donated 3 vacation days which the statement says will be converted to cash at her hourly rate for the donation. The vacation would have been taxable income if used, or if cashed out when she retired.

Haven't seen this before; is it deductible?

[kcjenkins]

Will the 'donation' be considered taxable? If so, it's deductible. I am guessing it will be added to her W-2, and thus taxable. But I'd want that confirmed.

[Mr. Pencil]

client donated 3 vacation days which the statement says will be converted to cash

Interesting fundraising appeal. I don't see any problem with deducting as a charitable contribution, assuming a qualified American charity issues a proper receipt in her own name. It doesn't sound like the "statement" meets the substantiation requirements.

[joanmcq]

The statement I have is simply the form authorizing the donation. This type of thing is common with stateworkers, but in the past I've only seen donations to fellow employees that have exhausted sick leave, and those, of course, aren't deductible.

[BulldogTom]

It gets back to KC's question. If the company includes the value of the vacation hours into the employee's gross wages, it is a deductible contribution. If the company just takes 3 days away from the employee's accrued vacation time and makes a donation with a notation that it came from this employee, not deductible.

Tom

Hollister, CA