Volunteer Out-of-Pocket Expenses in Giving Services
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You may deduct certain expenses that you incur in performing volunteer work. Although you cannot deduct the value of your services, you may be able to deduct some amounts you pay in giving services to a qualified organization.

The amounts must be:

  • Unreimbursed,
  • Directly connected with the services,
  • Expenses you had only because of the services you gave, and
  • Not personal, living, or family expenses.

For more information regarding deductible charitable contributions, please review IRS Publication 526 Charitable Contributions.

You should enter these volunteer expenses as cash charitable contributions on Schedule A. To enter this amount in TaxAct®:

  1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop) click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then select Federal
  2. Click Itemized or Standard Deductions in the Federal Quick Q&A Topics menu to expand the category and then click Charitable Contributions (scroll down if necessary)
  3. On the screen titled Did you make any charitable contributions in 2018? click Yes
  4. Proceed to the screen Enter your 2018 cash contributions and enter your out-of-pocket expenses