In a groundbreaking victory for animal rescuers around the country, one California animal foster fought the Internal Revenue Service in court – and won! As a result of Van Dusen v. Commissioner, animal rescuers nationwide that are fostering dogs and/or cats for approved charities may claim the expenses during tax time.
An approved charity is one that is recognized by the IRS with the 501(c)(3) designation as a Not-for-Profit organization. Fostering expenses eligible for deduction are food, medicines, veterinary bills, crates, garbage bags, and the like. Even a portion of your utilities can be considered expenses as long as a a specific area of your home is only used for the care of the animals and nothing else.
In addition to animal rescue, the new tax laws apply to all volunteer expenses related to charitable work for an approved organization.
If you foster a dog (or many dogs!) make sure to save any and all receipts, and, if expenses add up to over $250 for the year, obtain a letter from the charitable organization that confirms your volunteer or foster status.
The Humane Society has said that their volunteers spend, on average, between $2,000 and $15,000 each year on out-of-pocket expenses related to fostering animals. “This is the first time the court has addressed these expenses,” said Jonathan Lovvorn, chief counsel of the Humane Society. “Now we want to get the word out.”
There are currently more than 1.5million charitable organizations recognized by the IRS, with volunteers spending millions of dollars out of pocket to support them. Finally, those volunteers have an opportunity to be rewarded for their generosity and kindness.
Are you an animal foster? Have you ever claimed those expenses on your tax filing? Share your experiences with us below!
I asked my tax guy about this last year and was told no…I kept all my reciepts to ask again this year!
I work for H&R Block, I’m a lab foster mom and have been deducting my expenses for 3 yrs now and it is a perfectly legitimate deduction under charitable contributions. (food, treats,toys,etc).
Just because they never heard of it doesn’t make it not true. Maybe you should change accountants, he could be missing lots of other deductions too causing you to pay too much in taxes.
I should add…proof of burden in an audit falls on the taxpayer so just keep receipts to backup up what you’re claiming like any other deduction.
Be very clear about this when you speak to your tax adviser. We get many people who ask about claiming their pets ***as dependents***. That is not allowed. We hear it so often that I can see a tax adviser automatically saying no without asking additional questions. If you are fostering a pet then the expenses may be claimable.
I request an in kind donation receipt from the non profit I foster for and then attach receipts for all expenditures I have made. I then deduct these as a donation to the organization. It is important to get the in kind donation form though so you can document that the donation did benefit a 501(c)3.
I too have done such deductions in the past, prior to Van Dusen decision, backed by receipts and corresponding checks and backed by a donation-in-kind letter from the 501c3 rescue with which I work. Never had a problem with IRS over this, perhaps because the amounts were relatively small. Also my CPA is pretty savvy and respected.
Previously I had sent the rescue organization a cash donation equal to or a bit larger than my expenses and then gotten reimbursed for my expenses. More cumbersome for them and for me. So the Van Dusen method is better.
Note that you do have to be part of a 501c3 to get this to work. I encourage all rescue people and foster folk to get connected to a 501c3 if they can find one compatible with their own standards and goals.
Humane Society volunteers? They don’t foster animals at all so wonder where their volunteers are really wracking up the charges. Maybe they’ll be able to get some contributions from those volunteers when they have to pay over the millions for the racketeering charges
Say what now? Why do you believe that humane society volunteers do not foster animals? I am a volunteer for two humane societies in my area, and I have fostered several dogs for them.
The wording in this and the linked articles capitalizes “The Humane Society” and does not specify whether they are referring to a LOCAL Humane Society, or the horrible lobbyist organization The Humane Society of the United States, which spends most of their donations in court lobbying to have Animal Rights bills tacked on to legislation and keep people from owning pets, while at the same time putting down any animals they get their hands on instead of finding them proper homes. THEY do not foster. I see the confusion here. And for anyone that has not heard of this, please utilize your favorite search engine to learn the truth about The Humane Society of the United States – donate and volunteer at your LOCAL Humane Society always, don’t give those liars one penny.
Humane Societies do have fosters. They are not required to, so all of them may not utilize fosters, but many do.
I also volunteer with a local Humane Society and have fostered dogs. I have taken them to adoption events and vet appointments. Have no idea how you got your info, Sue.
I have fostered at my home for the HSUS. Yes, they use fosters. They are not all about Lobbying, they often partisapate in large mill raids, as this would bankrupt any individual rescue.
You may be against the HSUS, but you also need to know all the facts! I hve fostered many for them. Do you think they want animals in a shelter if there is an investagation.
Again, learn some more about what the HSUS does, not just what you think they do.
most humane societies are not linked or associated with the hsus. they are independent organizations, and not what this article is about. we have 2 humane socieities in western washington and neither is related to the other, nor hsus.
if you are speaking of the hsus you are correct… but local ones.. i am sure this is true. the hsus is a horrible ‘thing’ and no one should waste their money supporting it. support your local shelters..
my local Humane society in Florida does ask for volunteers to take in dogs and cats for fostering. The shelter is overflowing all the time and they need that help.
The “Humane Society” referred to in the article is HSUS, not one of the small local humane societies that actually does take care of animals. HSUS is an animal rights lobbying group. Their “members” might spend a lot of money on fostering animals, but that’s because HSUS does not have any animal care facilities and passes those duties (and the financial burden) on to the hard-working people who actually do help homeless animals. HSUS could easily reimburse those groups but they do not. This is just another example of the confusion caused by the words “Humane Society” in HSUS’s name. People think “the Humane Society” means an actual humane society that takes care of animals.
The person who does my taxes (Texas) found a little bitty deduction a long time ago. It states “Any expenses incurred to alleviate the suffering of children and animals.” (Or something to that effect.) I am a retired teacher; not to many deductions, except my rescues. In 2010, I got 800. back. In 2011, I got 1600. back. I keep track of everything. I am also head agent in Texas, of a national 501(c)(3) rescue group.
Also, you can deduct all your mileage used transporting foster animals: to vet visits, to and from adoption events, from shelter to rescue, etc. Just keep a log in your vehicle (I am sure there is probably an app for it too!!)
Thanks for letting me know the difference in HSUS and my local. I have supported both, but now will only give to my local Humane Society!
also don’t confuse your local SPCA, which almost certainly does shelter and/or foster, with ASPCA.
and to further add to potential confusion, don’t confuse HSUS with American Humane Association, which does disaster rescues through a program they call Red Star. AHA also has some animal assisted therapy programs. also they are the ones who certify animal safety in motion picture making : “no animals were harmed” is their certification.
it’s confusing and unfortunate that the terms “Humane” and “SPCA” can be used by so many unrelated organizations, local and national. Please don’t assume that all are bad or that all are good. You certainly can investigate your local orgs and find out who their leadership are and meet some volunteers. Chances are good that any local group is trying its best to accomplish good for local animals and that your ideas and efforts could be of real help in these goals.
Yes, just because the tax professional says no to deducting expenses related to fostering only means they don’t know the laws. I had to educate my tax professional last year about deducting expenses for my therapy dog. He learned something new from me!
Does anyone know if we can deduct the cost of vaccinations for our animals so they don’t share with our fosters? I get the PanLeuk immunization so I can safely foster. THAT’s what I need to deduct!!
my guess would be no way, that’s too much like using pets as dependents. it’s not a direct contribution to the charity, like although being paid mileage for a charity would be, they won’t likely let you deduct the oil change or belt repair you did (because of all the miles you put on your car for the charity)…although claiming pets as dependents would be an awesome next step
I used to joke with my CPA that if only I could claim my horse as spouse (and he was of opposite gender to myself) and thus file jointly and then claim my dogs as our children, wow that would have been a real tax saver.
on the other paw, Mitt R IS able to take deductions for his wife’s third rate dressage horse, presumably because as a breedable mare she is a business asset.
we have long encouraged fosters to claim mileage (14 cents/ mi) and expenses as they are indeed a contribution to a 501c3, whether it’s under the terms fostering or not. they simply fall under the category of “in kind” donations, the same as if you donate a box of goods to the salvation army or goodwill and get a receipt with a blank space on it for the estimated value…only this is simpler and much less subjective. i am frankly surprised anyone had to make this a court case, as it seems perfectly law abiding to track it like any other donation or contribution to an official charity…the burden of responsibility does fall on the taxpayer, as always, to ensure proper tracking is done, as this is independent of any specifically monetary donations where a receipt is required by the charity. all charities should be able to produce an “in kind” receipt however, when asked, and i don’t think this should be new…although congrats and wonderful it was specifically tackled and achieved by this rescue!
What forms are required to deduct the expenses? I have a service dog, and some things are deductable, but cannot find out how.
The way around this is to keep all your receipts for expenses and consider them a donation to the organization you are fostering for! If I bought six bags of food and a crate to foster, I get the 501c3 to write out a receipt for goods donated. It’s really just a matter of the goods not swapping hands (what’s the difference? I give group X six bags of food and then they give them back to me to use for foster dog?…). Perfectly legit without going to court.
Thank you for the people that have explained the differences in HSUS and the local humane society!! There is a huge difference!
I have a much different problem. I am disabled. I have no earned income. I have been fostering for 2 years now and tried to claim my gas expense only and was declined by my tax person. This is so unfair. Because I get no government help other than my SSI which I paid into for many years. I use my own money to support the dogs and cats I take back and forth to the vet, then foster them until well enough for adoption. No, I don’t stick them in only one part of the house my job is to socialize them which means making sure they not only are good with people and children but other cats and dogs too. So they can get adopted by anyone. I have saved over 30 animals this pasted year alone. I eat peanut butter for weeks at a time so I can take care of these throw aways. All Wrong.