8283 question

Simple answer. You don't use Form 8283. See the instructions:

"Do not use Form 8283 to report out-of-pocket expenses for volunteer work or amounts you gave by check or credit card. Treat these items as cash contributions. Also, do not use Form 8283 to figure your charitable contribution deduction. For details on how to figure the amount of the deduction, see your tax return instructions and Pub. 526, Charitable Contributions."

What you do need, however, is the usual contemporaneous acknowledgement from the church: (from Pub. 526):

"1. You must have adequate records to prove the amount of the expenses.

1. You must get an acknowledgment from the qualified organization that contains: a. A description of the services you provided, b. A statement of whether or not the organization provided you any goods or services to reimburse you for the expenses you incurred, c. A description and a good faith estimate of the value of any goods or services (other than intangible religious benefits) provided to reimburse you, and d. A statement that the only benefit you received was an intangible religious benefit, if that was the case. The acknowledgment doesn't need to describe or estimate the value of an intangible religious benefit."

Ira Smilovitz, EA Leonia, NJ

Thanks, Ira, but the question still arises as to whether this actually qualifies as "volunteer expenses". That would cover things like the gas & parking to drive his car to pick up the food from the caterer instead of it being delivered. This instead seems to fall into the realm of donation of supplies, just as if he had purchased meat and produce at the supermarket from which one of the other congregants then cooked meals or as when someone buys spray cleaner and garbage bags for the church building on their own Amazon account. They're not really expenses incurred in the course of the donor actually performing volunteer services, and as the church got the physical items rather than the cash it seems they still would have to be reported on Schedule A Line 12 rather than Line 11, with the high amount thereon triggering the need for Form 8283.

Complicating matters further is it now turns out the client also paid the AirBnb bill for a visiting clergyman who came to give sermons one weekend. Again, neither a direct cash contribution to the church nor a direct cost of volunteering, so a bit fuzzy on the Line

Yes, ideally he (and everyone else) should be writing checks to the church and the church buying from its own account--and I'm told others there have pointed this out repeatedly--but again I'm not dealing with someone sophisticated in tax matters, just someone who acts upon his charitable urges as the circumstances come up.

(As to documentation, there's plenty of it for the expenses paid, which is what I was given, but the church is rather lax about non-cash acknowledgment letters, again simply because the people in charge aren't up on such things.)

I will defer to someone more knowledgeable, but I consider expenditures to allow a charitable organization to fullfil its mission as qualified contributions to that organization. Yes, everything would be cleaner if it ran through the church's books, but you have what you have.

Ira Smilovitz, EA Leonia, NJ

The apparent intent of Form 8283 is to report donations of property. Your client catered meals after church services and had out of pocket expenses in doing so. In the context you have described, I see your client as a volunteer providing a simple service (catered meals) for the church that has associated out-of-pocket cash costs that your client paid. The Publication 526 instructions of "Do not use Form 8283 to report out-of-pocket expenses for volunteer work or amounts you gave by check or credit card. Treat these items as cash contributions." seems to make much more sense than trying to find a way to make Form 8283 work. I simply don't see your client's contributions as "property" in the Form

Either way, cash contributions of over $250 or Form 8283 contributions over $500 require acknowledgement from the church of the contribution in order for your client to deduct them. Since the money didn't flow thru the church, the acknowledgement can't with certainty state a value of the contribution. About all the church can do is say "Thank you for the generous contribution of the meal after the March 29, 2022 church service." and it is up to your client to document the associated out-of-pocket expenses expenses.

Good Luck.

Thanks, Big. Your view of the client as the caterer, rather than as the supplier of property to let the church be the caterer, makes sense and does allow for the volunteer expenses treatment you (and Ira) point out. That makes this a lot easier. I'm pretty sure the client can get the treasurer to produce the requisite acknowledgment letter, and he does have the purchase records to enable a valuation of the contribution (which are what pointed me to the situation in the first place).