Self Employment Tax and Church Donations

[vortriede]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?CA

I have been acting as webmaster for my church for the past 8 months. I do not charge them and I do not whish to charge them; however, I would like to be able to deduct the value of my contribution from my taxes. I had initially thought of billing them for my services and then donating it right back to them; however, the church business administrator has advised me that there are self employment tax ramifications that would likely make that approach too painful. I work full time for a software company so, all of my income is W2 wages. So, my questions are as follows:

1. Is this worth pursuing?
2. How should I do it? (Invoice them, ask for 1099, etc.)?
3. How do I account for the income and deduction on my taxes?
4. What other questions should I be asking?
5. What other information do you need?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Eric

[tdavidl]

hi, good for you for donating your time, many of us do this. i suggest you forget about trying to find a fancy way to deduct your time. volunteer work is not deductible as you already know.

even w/o the se tax issue, reporting income & then taking a deduction for donating the income right back leaves you in at least the same tax position, maybe worse since it also raises your AGI.

let it be & feel good knowing you have the knowledge & the means to help out your church.

if you incur any out-of-pocket costs, like internet provider services, software, computer supplies etc., you can deduct those.