Is the cost of a Kiddush deductible?

deductibility of payments to sponsor a kiddush.

and holidays is marked by a "meal", often referred to as a kiddush. The meal can be as simple as some wine/grape juice and challah (bread) or as elaborate as a multi-course sit-down banquet (but must still contain the wine/grape juice and challah).

of the kiddush or to sponsor it. It is common for people to sponsor a more elaborate kiddush (that is, more than the minimum; not necessarily the blow-out banquet) to commemorate life cycle events/milestones.

deductible contributions. I say they are because the contribution is directly related to the religious purpose of the synagogue. That is, a kiddush is required and there is no religious limitation on the upside.

that you are providing personal benefits to guests.

but haven't found any (and don't expect that the issue has ever been adjudicated).

Okay... I read all the replies. There is, I believe, law on this general subject. It is in the regs that were published after the law was changed requiring contemporaneous written acknowledgments. See 1.170A. There is also two revenue procedures:

and There is revenue ruling 67-246: In addition, there is a pretty good explanation of the above in IRS Pub

1771. It seems to me that a sponsorship (the word used by all the jewish religious organizations I looked at) of a kiddush is part of the organizations fund raising campaign. As such, the law requires written acknowledgment from the charity in two cases: Single donations of $250 or more and single donations in excess of $75 when goods and services are received in exchange for the gift. Most of the sponsorships I looked at were in excess of $75. For the $250 category, there must be a statement that no goods and services were provided to the donor or if there was a quid pro quo, the acknowledgment must provide an estimate of the FMV of those goods and services. The acknowledgment must be contemporaneous. (See below for a recent court case on this issue of "contemporaneous).) The rev. procs. are safe harbors. This means that you can still get a deduction if you fail the safe harbor as long as the facts and circumstances surrounding the gift meet the definitions relating to Sec. 170 of the IRC.

When you read the above, you will discover that we must first determine whether what we have is a quid quo pro donation (You make the contribution and get something in return. A good example is the PBS solicitations in which you get a book or CD.) or whether it falls under the de minimis rule or is excepted by the rule relating to it being part of the religious services provided.

The de minimis rule that would relate to a meal would be a FMV that is the lesser of 2% of the gift or $96 (2010 add inflation). A $150 kiddush sponsorship would translate to $3 FMV value of the meal if this was a quid quo pro donation. If this was a quid pro quo donation, the charity could determine the FMV by determining its typical cost per attendee and applying a reasonable mark-up to get FMV.

As others have stated, the solicitations for kiddush sponsorships state that the donation is fully deductible. Every charity has been informed by the IRS as to the rules for publishing solicitations and what a written statement must say about it being tax deductible (there are penalties to the charity). I believe that the organizations state it is tax deductible because it falls under the religious experience (service) exemption. In other words, the donation is not a quid quo pro donation. As such, I am inclined to go along with the organization determination that it is part of the religious services provided.... until at least one of the courts says it is not.

The above relates to kiddush sponsorships and not someone holding a party at the synagogue or temple.

Earlier, I mentioned a court case on the requirement that a written acknowledgment from a charity be contemporaneous as required by law for single donations of $250 or more.

See Durden v. Comm'r, TC Memo 2012-140.

What distinguishes this is that the court states that the definition of contemporaneous is what the law says... no exceptions. Effectively, the law says you must receive the letter before you file your return. In the case of the Durdens, the letter they received from the church was timely but did not include the required statement that no goods and services had been received by the Durdens (we're talking $25K). The IRS rejected the deduction because that phrase was missing. The Durdens asked the church for another letter that included the missing words. This was done more than a year after they filed. The court rejected that letter as not being contemporaneous. The court also upheld the IRS because the original letter did not include the goods and services clause. This is a heads up to all tax pros.

This was the distinction I was trying to make by having the donation go through the general fund.

To Jon's point, these functions can be as simple as $100 or so for minimal food/drink, a few hundred when a better spread is added, and in the thousands if catered as for a function.

I agree with Jon, the multi-thousand catered function probably doesn't pass scrutiny.

In my thinking it's a fringe benefit, I think section 125 or 132.

the deductibility of payments to sponsor a kiddush.

Sabbaths and holidays is marked by a "meal", often referred to as a kiddush. The meal can be as simple as some wine/grape juice and challah (bread) or as elaborate as a multi-course sit-down banquet (but must still contain the wine/grape juice and challah).

of the kiddush or to sponsor it. It is common for people to sponsor a more elaborate kiddush (that is, more than the minimum; not necessarily the blow-out banquet) to commemorate life cycle events/milestones.

deductible contributions. I say they are because the contribution is directly related to the religious purpose of the synagogue. That is, a kiddush is required and there is no religious limitation on the upside.

that you are providing personal benefits to guests.

I see it completely differently. In many (most?) cases you are obligated to host a kiddush to be allowed to have a bar mitzvah or wedding. It is a payment for a service and should not be tax deductible; any more than the cloths you buy to wear to the event are. If you host it because you want to and receive nothing in return it should be tax deductible. Now... "should" has no tax relevance. But it should.