Tax Breaks For Pet Owners
Published July 19, 2011
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Providing foster care for stray animals is now tax deductible, thanks to a cat-saving volunteer on a mission.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Jan Van Dusen, a former family-law attorney in Oakland, Calif., lives with seven cats of her own. As a volunteer for Fix Our Ferals, whose mission is to trap stray cats, neuter them and care for them until they can be adopted by owners or released, Ms. Van Dusen provided foster care for about 70 feral cats.
Ms. Van Dusen appeared before a U.S. Tax Court judge and a team of Internal Revenue Service lawyers more than a year ago to dispute her tax deduction for taking care of the 70 stray cats.
The Tax Court allowed her to make a charitable deduction for expenses she incurred while taking care of the cats in her home for the IRS-approved charity, Fix Our Ferals.
According to the Wall Street Journal, among the $12,068 in expenses she deducted were food, veterinarian bills, litter, a portion of utility bills, and other items such as paper towels and garbage bags.
Judge Richard Morrison allowed Ms. Van Dusen to deduct most of some bills and half of others for care of the feral cats, ruling they were un-reimbursed expenses to help a charitable group in its mission.
As a tax-paying pet owner, keep records of the major expenses for stray animals and have the charity you are helping write a letter of acknowledgement for the gift, then any expense over $250 can be deducted.
Check out Petside’s article on Finances and Pet Owners .
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Comments (5)
pet product donation should be considered a charitable deduction without dispute
There should be a tax deduction for all pets . Safetyelectricdogfence
This is wonderful! I wish I'd have known about this sooner, as my neighbor and myself have almost a full time job taking care of the ferals in our neighborhood. It is so very time consuming but they can't go and buy food or make a safe comfortable place to sleep. It is a sin with how people have NO regard for the lives of God's creatures, cats and dogs are in so much trouble anymore because of the greed of mankind and people not being allowed to own pets where they rent! Some people are careless and then it ruins it for everyone! I had 30 cats spayed and neutered last fall and some made thru the winter and summer and some did not because not all were able to have a permanent shelter from the outside. Landords are tough! I wish I could save them all! I love animals more than people! Taking care of them gives me a purpose and I also help people too, so don't think that I am totally nuts! Do you know that PETA, sent me a survey about how cats and dogs have their skin ripped from their bodies while still alive! They can breathe and blink for five minutes after this horrific act! Their fur is used for trim on clothing, trinkets, keychains, boots and shoes and whatever they can use it on, so do not buy anything with fur trim! Please tell others about this, Please and watch your pets in your yard that someone does not steal them for this trade!
I have done foster care of kittens for our animal shelter for eleven years and have always deducted what I spend on them as a charitable donation to the shelter.
this is excellent, some one has to speak for the animals.