Opinions on deductibility of National Ski Patrol Items

[Mike Mac]

Do any of you have clients who are part of the National Ski Patrol (NSP)? I've got a client who asked about the deductibility of items related to NSP. We have a small ski slope in the area. These folks evidently are volunteers who could be 1st responders to any ski accidents/injuries that may occur on the hills while they are present.

The umbrella National Ski Patrol organization itself is a non-profit organization but I am unsure if it is a 503(c)3 entity. Here is a snipet of an e-mail that I got from my client (who has a friend that took a number of charitable deductions related to his hanging around the slopes as a NSP member) I believe these folks do volunteer under a set schedule.

Here’s what we pushed over to our accountant:

Class enrollment, books: $200
Equipment (boots, poles): $425
Mileage: 18 trips @36 miles per trip = 648 miles (I think the government allows 0.50 cents per mile, so that’s $324 deductible)

I didn’t deduct my vest because it was purchased in 2011. Didn’t do a good job of keeping record of my other purchases (gloves and other outdoor clothing), but that could have been part of the deduction too

I am conservative by nature when it comes to these types of deductions but I also don't want to skip a deduction that I should rightfully include on the retutrn. The members of the local ski patrol also get some benefits for volunteering as well such as no charge for using the slopes, complimentary passes for family members, discounts on ski equipment, etc. The members of the ski patrol are required to be certifed in CPR each year and take a refresher course in Outdoor Emergency Care annually.

Any thoughts??

Thanks

Mike

[AJsTax]

Definitely can not be a charitable

delete.. see new one.
I tried to fix but it made a new one??

see changes please.

[Koss]

Ski Patrol

National Ski Patrol System, Inc. is listed as a charitable entity in the online version of IRS Publication 78:

http://www.irs.gov/app/pub-78/forwardToSearch.do

Volunteer expenses are deductible. This sounds legit. To me, this seems like it fits into the same category as the uniforms and mileage of a Boy Scout leader.

BMK

[AJsTax]

Maybe can not be a charitable

contribution if you are receiving a tangible benefit from the activity. They are receiving quite a bit of value for their time.
I would say that is not a charity and thus no deduction.
Lets go to the IRS and see if the NSP is a 501(c)(3)!


after reading the IRS list and the NSP web page,yes they are a charitable organization. Monetary donations to them are tax deductible.
But the equipment you buy? I doubt, because you have to have that anyways to ski and you would not be on a ski patrol if you did not already ski. the books and courses to be certified for the NSP, maybe, IF they only qualify you for the volunteer NSP. If they qualify you for other work, then probably not.
Why not contact the NSP and ask them. I am sure they have lawyers on staff that have dealt with this in the past.

[JohnH]

I did a quick search on the issue and got some mixed info. On the one hand, the direct costs of training by the NSP might be deductible because it is a non-profit organization. However, one individual said that the actual performance of a ski patroller's task when on duty is not deductible because it is done for the individual resort, rather than the NSP. (this is an interesting distinction, and quite separate from the personal benefits in terms of free ski privileges ski patrollers normally receive when not on duty) if he is correct, then that would throw out any deductibility for travel to and from, the slopes, meals, etc, simply because the activity is not being performed for the NSP organization itself.

Equipment is yet another sticky issue - one tax pro said that at best the cost should be allocated between training and personal use. I'm not sipuggesting one approach or the other - just tossing out some thoughts to keep the discussion going.

I did have a client a few years ago who wanted to deduct all his SCUBA equipment and training because he was certified as a volunteer rescue/recovery diver. I seem to recall that we did some research on that issue and finally came to the conclusion that the only thing he could deduct would have been travel to the dive site, lodging and meals, oxygen, meds, etc when related to a specific rescue. Of course, that's where the analogy ends because a ski patroller is one site to assist when something happempns, whereas a diver is being called to a site when there is already a known emergency.

[AJsTax]

What John says

falls in line with what I am thinking on this. The work is being done for the ski lodge , not the national association.
You can not take a charitable deduction for an activity from which you receive tangible benefits. And free skiing for member and family would add up to quite a large benefit.

[outwest]

This is a repost of a reply on a similar thread..

the runs you get are far less than you would expect. Aside from the occasional injuries, it's pulling and resetting barriers, giving directions, locating lost kids, retrieving gear, crowd control at the lift, and diplomatic behavior modification. If you pull an accident, you can figure 2 hours gone with hill transport, finding the parents or friends, treatment, reporting, and handover for transport to medical services. Then there were the calls to the tubing/ sledding area up the road for tree collisions. Most days I was lucky to get a couple of runs in with my wife, maybe lunch.

Some days you get the privilege of doing this while the weather/snow/people are all lousy. (good prep for tax work I guess)

Long and short, if you want to ski, buy a ticket.

Since I became a CPA, no more skiing. That's one thing I miss.

By the way, the charity is the National Ski Patrol System Inc. and the beneficiary is the skiing public in general. And some patrols are nordic not alpine skiing.

For a number of years the trend has been toward paid patrol partly because of the difficulty in finding enough volunteers willing to do the above for a large ski area every day of the week.

One edit to the above is that the NSPS is a congressionally chartered charity, on of the few.

[outwest]

If you search for "ski patrol"

you'll find some more discussion of deductible expenses.

[Mike Mac]

Thanks for the opinions. I did send an e-mail to the president of the national organization prior to posting my question here this morning. Hopefully I will get a response from him next week.

My inclination is that the direct expenses for the classes and training to become a member of the NSP could be deductible but not the cost of all the clothing and equipment (but perhaps a percentage of them). I am not sure if the NSP jackets are colored something like blaze orange and emblazoned with NSP patches that would make them unsuitable for public wear, but that might also be a factor in determining if their cost would be deductible. The local ski slope certainly gets a benefit out of having these volunteers. I'm just having difficulty seeing the charitable purpose to the local organization.

The Mission Statement of the local organization reads: "Mission is to provide quality focused education and training in safety, credentialed outdoor emergency care, and transportation services. This enables members and other stakeholders to serve the outdoor recreation community."

The local ski slope requires the Ski Patrol member to complete 4-5 shifts per month which includes at least on weekend shift. The shifts are five hours long.

Interesting discussions and I was trying to picture similar type charitable organizations but couldn't come up with any. In many ways the purpose seems to be helping the local ski slope more than a specific group of people (like the boy scout comparison).

Again thanks for the opinions

[bgiez]

No one mentioned that

charitable miles are not at $.50/mile, but $.14/mile if it is determined that the service qualifies for a charitable deduction.

[Lion]

Income?

And, if he is considering deducting his expenses, he should be taking into income the value of all the freebies he and his family received.

[JG EA]

Is this like the volunteer organist cannot take miles to church because was going there anyway?