Posted by Leif Irgens on January 03, 2007 at 15:35:32:
In Reply to: Re: Not unless you give the taxman... posted by Lois Wims on January 03, 2007 at 13:40:54:
I'm no accountant either but my basic understanding of tax-deducible donations leads me to belive there's a lot of room for interpretation here.
You could argue that since you recieve something for your money, it is not tax-deductible. However, you could also look at the shirt, the police protection, the food, etc . . . as something to entice you to make a donation. Think about some of those bigger fund-raisers where the organizers/ sponsors provide wine, cheese, food, entertainment at no cost in order to entice you to attend and thus make a donation.
Also, keep in mind that the IRS only asks for receipts for donations over $250 so, unless you're planning on claiming entries from races with fees higher than that, you have a lot of room to argue with Mr. Tax-Man.