Originally Posted by nako
Actually, I believe that City of Hope valued the HHonors points at $16, meaning that the amount of the donation above the $16 could be deducted were you to itemize your taxes.
More discussion can be found
here.
Mike
Wow...that's a hefty thread. I will agree that this is a gray area and that the people in that 300-post thread have better info than I.
I enter lots of road races, fun runs, and charity walks every year, including some that give varying amounts to charity. In exchange for the entry fee, I usually get a goodie bag in addition to the entry in the event itself. Sometimes the goodie bag rocks (Cincinnati Flying Pig! ^) and sometimes it doesn't. I've never thought for a second of attempting to deduct any of these fees on my taxes for the simple reason that (a) I know most of these events barely clear a little bit of money for charity if they have great sponsors and a strong field, and (b) it just seems like too much of a gray area to attract IRS attention to line-items that have such a small value.
So, I probably wouldn't deduct $9 on my taxes for a City of Hope entry... But that's just me.