Value of Donated Game Meat?
Elk
If I tag out, I am considering dropping off part of my meat to the "Hunter's Helping The Hungry" program. It says they will give you a "charitable donation" receipt. I assume that means you set the value of that donation yourself. Does anyone know what a fair $ amount would be per pound of unprocessed elk meat?
Anyone done this before? Any tax people (or anyone who has asked their tax person) on here who can shed more light?
I've linked NM's program as an FYI. Sounds like a really good thing, especially for people flying in who will have trouble getting meat home.
I would say they are the experts and will know the answer to that
Take the amount you've spent to harvest the animal and divide it by the percentage of the animal your donating. Example: if my total trip cost $1000 and I donate half the animal my value is $500. That is the maximum amount of$ for any one donation here in WI.
You will not get much of a donation for that, but it will make your feel good about sharing with others.
Any non-cash donation of an asset held less than a year is limited to your cost in the actual asset (meat), not the fair market value. I doubt you are donating meat that is more than a year old and it probably would not have much FMV if it were that old.
You would be able to deduct the cost of any commercial processing. The rest of your costs are not deductible, as they are not incurred for purely charitable purposes and they include a lot of personal benefit (getting to go hunting). Those two factors limit the deductibility of the other expenses. Since all of the donation programs require donated meat to be processed by an FDA approved meat processor, that FDA approved process cost is an extra cost to your donation and therefore would be deductible. Make sure you have a document from a qualified 501 (c)(3) organization recognizing your donation and a receipt to prove the cost of the processing.
As a CPA for the last 27 years and a hunter who wants to share with others, I've made a lot of game meat donations to food banks that I know are not deductible. I shoot some whitetail does every year, and not for any charitable donation, rather to make sure that others in our community get to experience the benefit of natures finest organic protein, something in great demand and limited supply among needy families.
CD your estimate does NOT sound right, otherwise sheep hunters would have a HUGE write off for their hunts! Desert sheep, donate 100% of meat and get a $40k tax deduction? No chance.
" I assume that means you set the value of that donation yourself."
Not necessarily. Anymore, organizations that receive donations, generally have guidelines or a recommended amount. It also depends on whether you are declaring an amount of $250 and above. Above that amount you have to have "written acknowledgement", not just a receipt, from the charity. Best to check with them.
Whatever you do, ignore Crusader dad.
Ok, let me explain my thought process. If I take all my kids older but still nice clothes to goodwill and donate them. I get to choose the value that I place on them. My max deduction on something like that is $500. Last year I donated two pheasant mounts to a conservancy. Again, the value of which was my choice with a max of $500.
So, if I hunt whitetail in WI and my whole trip cost $500 and I choose to donate the entire deer my perceived value of said deer is $500 and that is the amount I would deduct.
Now, if I hunted a sheep with a total cost of $100,000 and chose to donate that meat, at least in WI my maximum write off would still only be $500. In my state we are allowed to choose our perceived value for most charitable donations. If I were on an elk hunt of my own and the trip cost me $3,000 and I decided to donate the elk I harvested I would take the maximum amount allowed up to the cost of the elk I shot.
Hunting is priceless but the meat you donate does have a cost attributed to it. As a small business owner in one of the highest taxed states to own a business, I pay my fair share of taxes and I will take the deductions that I can within the law.
First of all it's not up to WI, IRS (federal) sets the rules. You can claim (make up) whatever you want, until you get audited. Then you get to pay it all back. It's called tax evasion.
You are way off the mark. The cost of your hunt has nothing to do with anything.. The value of the meat is the meat itself, which we may all think is priceless but in reality is only worth a few dollars a pound. I'm quite certain it is spelled out pretty clearly in IRS guidance and any donation center will be able to tell you.
Value of the meat is all you can deduct not the cost of your hunt. And the value of the meat is not based on the price of your hunt. You probably wold be safe if you took the price per pound of good lean burger.
Ain't gonna put a price on my meat. If my wife finds out how much it runs per pound, I'm in deep doo-doo ! :)
Yes, I am asking what the fair price per pound is for the actual meat. While I would love to count the cost of my hunt and divide it by half, (if donating half of it) I know enough about taxes to know that isn't going to survive an audit nor should it.
The new program in NM, which I forgot to link in the original post, doesn't require you to pay for processing. They have donations to cover processing costs and certainly welcome your donation but do not require it.
I donate several deer per year to HHH. Where I live the hunter donates the deer and pays a small amount of money to the butcher. The state also kicks in some money to the butcher through NORWESCAP. I do this as a way to give something back and help those less forunate than me. I've never thought about trying to get a tax deduction from this.
Thank you Darrell. I feel pretty good about myself today.
This company sells farm raised elk meat. 1/2 an elk sells retail for $1100.
Are you planning on donating one of the backstraps though?
You can look at each part individually on their website.
You cannot deduct the VALUE of meat you might donate.
A donation of a non-cash asset (meat) held less than a year is limited to the cost of that donated item, less any non-charitable or personal benefit received.
Value has nothing to do with the discussion.
Carry on .......
If I buy a baseball at a charity auction for $2,000 I write off the whole cost because that's what it cost me to obtain that item. Same thing if you donate meat. It cost you a certain amount of money to obtain that item and that amount is what it is worth. Fair market value on a baseball is about $2.00 but it's actually worth as much as you can talk someone into paying for it. And if they pay that as a donation. They write that off. Same as hunting. I do not donate my deer. I share with friends and eat them myself (Just to set the record straight). If I did donate a deer I would certainly write off the maximum amount I could up to my cost to get that deer.
If you ask your wife the price per pound it will be around a $1,000. Just donate the meat and feel good! Hope you get a nice one! C
Really? Just be happy that someone can benefit and you don't have to pay to bring it home. I suspect that the latter is your primary motivation.
Crusader dad. Do yourself a favor and consult a CPA before filling out your taxes. Suffice it to say, the cost of your hunting license, gas, outfitter/guide, etc., are VACATION expenses, NOT the cost of the meat.
Ernst & Young you ain't man.
We have a CPA giving great advice. I'd listen...
Ziek, I will end my discussion on the topic with this. I have used the same accountant for the last 14 years. I've been through an audit as well. I stand behind what I sign my name to on my taxes. If I donate something/anything to charity, the cost of what it took me to obtain that item up to the maximum allowable by state/federal law is what I claim. I work my ass off and pay more than my fair share.
So the half million we're paying for our hunting property I can deduct as well if I donate the meat from my deer!! Oh boy!! The guy on the internet says so!
Your baseball analogy may or may not be right. Maybe because that is what you paid outright to buy the specific item to are donating you can deduct it. I don't know, but that is different than saying all the costs associated with acquiring deer meat is deductible.
If you apply YOUR deer meat rules to the baseball you should deduct much more than the $2,000 you paid for the ball. How about the other costs of getting into a position to acquire it. Things like
The cost of the ticket to the event
The cost of the gas and car depreciation to get to the event.
The cost of the clothes you wore to the charity auction since you could not very well go and acquire it if you were naked.
All of those costs, plus the $2,000 for the ball, were necessary for you to be able to acquire the ball.
I heard once that homeowners insurance pays about $12-$14 per pound for meat lost in the event it gets destroyed (loss of power for an extended period of time). Maybe that's a good way to determine its value. Just a thought.
CD. While I'm not a CPA, my wife has been for 30 years. The advice you're giving is just plain wrong. By the way, an accountant isn't necessarily a CPA. BIG difference.
Just donate the meat and don't concern yourself with a tax deduction. It's not always how you can benefit from doing a good deed.
Well, after the jerky I made on my Traeger grill tonight, this may no longer a question for me. One batch of Yoshidas Teriyaki with some added Mango Habanero from Buffalo Wild Wings and another batch with Green Chili and lime as the main flavor and they are both awesome. I still may donate some but man is that jerky good.
This this tread is a great example why even if my account doubles his fee I would still make the appointment to get my taxes done .....
Even when doing something good, some people still want to be able to benefit from it.
Good thing we're not talking Canadian walleye. That stuff is around $200 a pound!
Not a dilemma for me though. We only get to bring 4 per person back, and I ain't givin any of that stuff away!
Nothing wrong with taking a legitimate tax donation. Not giving away meat for the purpose of a deduction. Just know that I end up giving away about half my meat each time I take an elk so I am thinking about giving it away at the start rather than after I get home. Unfortunately, I ruined my wife on game meat early in our marriage when I didn't know how to prepare it well from the field to the table and she was the one who always got the gamey bite. My son and I eat it but its hard to eat a full elk.
As for the tax deduction, there are aggressive accountants and conservative. Aggressive ones will save you money in taxes every year until you get audited. If they are really good and know exactly where the lines are, you will survive the audit. If they push the envelope too much, you will likely have to pay for their aggressiveness. I tend to lean on the conservative side as I would rather pay a little extra over my "fair share" than have the hassle of being audited, paying back taxes, penalties, etc.
My guess on this one is that being very aggressive would be using the price the insurance company's would pay on a claim for wild meat. Anything more than that would be asking for trouble if you were audited. Can you argue it? Sure. Will you win that argument with the IRS, I don't think so.
Anyway, good discussion but its all mute for me if I don't fill my tag. First things first. Almost time to go find an elk! 9 days and a few hours, but who's counting!
Do you guys realize that a CPA just answered this question conclusively? And some are still questioning? There's no grey area on this one.
Thanks SDHNTR, For a minute I was starting to think I was the only one that could view Big Fin's posts! ;)
I wouldn't worry about it. If I'm donating it then I would hope someone will benefit from what I don't want.
--Bill
Well the "grey area" is what is the cost of the meat and how much should be deducted from that cost in light of the personal benefit. The cost could be added up in many different ways as could the benefits received.
I agree that if Big Fin is an tax guy that his input carries much more weight than mine or others on this thread. (Though as I know first hand on a few completely different things, tax people don't always agree on some specific deductions.) However, maybe I'm being dense here but how do you determine the cost or is there not any technical cost since your tag is a license to hunt, not a guarantee of meat?
In NM it's illegal to sell wild meat, shouldn't it be wrong to claim a tax benefit for donating it?
-- Bill
What contradictions in NM? Never heard of such a thing and I grew up there. :)
My family's meat packing plant is one of the places involved with the program here in NM. I don't know anything about tax deductions for charitable donations for game meat. When donating your meat you have to fill out a donation sheet answering a few questions about how the meet was taken care of, etc. so, I guess there is your written statement of donation. Monetary value is actually set by the processor which is the cost of the processing only and Not the meat itself. You still pay some processing fees for whatever meat you don't donate. If you want all the steaks then you pay for the labor to make the raw meat into clean, wrapped, edible steaks. The Hb is donated. The processing fees are paid for by money donations given to HHH.
Like I said earlier, I have no idea about any deductions. We just thought it was a great idea to help and a way to help us as a business with all the meat that gets abandoned in our freezer. Good luck to all this season!
CD think about this. Why would anyone go on a hunt for your own benefit and then think that they can deduct the cost of the hunt even if you donate the meat. You didn't go on the hunt for the sole purpose of donating the meat. Now if you donated the hunt to a charity (which is the baseball donation analogy you used above) that would be different.
Darrell - There is no "gray area."
Activities with personal benefit are not deductible. Only items donated, cash or non-cash, to a qualified 501(c)(3) organization are deductible. Hunting expenses would not fall into any of those categories.
There are mountains of court cases where guys have tried to claim costs related to hunting and fishing trips as deductions under parts of the Internal Revenue Code. Everyone of them were considered personal and the courts denied the deduction.
Anyone who wants to deduct those expenses is playing the audit lottery. Any CPA who would sign a return that claims such deductions might want to pad up his malpractice policy.
Most important, go have a great hunt, enjoy yourself, and if you can share with others who would benefit from the protein, by all means, please share it, tax deduction or not.
I don't like the rules cause they don't seem fair so I am going to do what seems fair to me. Yeah, the IRS will probably let you get away with that.
Trying to claim hunting expenses as deductible in any form or fashion is playing with fire. Attributing hunt costs in the value of the meat is a pretty big stretch that doesn't pass either the smell test or the legal one.
While WI may have a limit on how much you can deduct, the federal government does not. My guess is a $2000 deduction probably isn't going to raise any flags, particularly based on your deduction history and income. Now trying to write off a $20K moose hunt or $50K sheep hunt is a different story.
As Big Fin pointed out, donations have to go to a qualified 501(c)(3) organization. The bulk (likely all) of your expenses on a hunt are not going to such organizations. If you bought a hunt from a charity auction and paid more than FMV then I'd imagine you could deduct the difference in what you paid and the FMV (someone chime in if I'm wrong). Beyond that, I don't see how much in the way of hunting expenses would be deductible.
As others have pointed out, enjoy your hunt and if you can also support a worthy cause more power to ya!
I'm a CPA as well and agree with Big Fin. For those of you who don't want to take his advice then don't.
haha funny story. I caught a train in the wilderness in CO on my way out from a mnt goat hunt. I went straight to concession car and got food, person working there realized they just picked me and an inquired what I was hunting etc. I told her mnt goat and she asked how much the tag cost, I explained as a NR $1,800. She paused and looked and me and said "Wow that must be some really good meat to pay that much".
She was dead serious. Funny stuff!
Big Fin & Keaf,
Thanks for the clarity.
I think NMG&F needs to be given that clarity also. Here is the line from their email that confused me:
"Those who donate cash or meat to the program can receive a receipt for charitable deduction purposes."
If there is "no deduction value" with the donation of the meat, they need to reword that sentence to "Those who donate cash to help with the processing can receive a receipt for charitable deduction purposes."
If I donate to a charity, tithe to a church or give to an individual, I do not claim it on my taxes, I do not post it on media, I don't fill out the little signs or stickers. Christian Charity isn't about monetary advantage, tax breaks, recognition, or self-glorification.
(this is an addendum/edit/modification to original comment ^)
I'm not criticizing or advising, just stating my personal philosophy,which may vary from others', and I apologize, I can well see how it may be /have been construed as critical or even self-congratulatory.
I've donated deer meat a few times. I never ever considered a tax donation return. I donated it to a church through the butcher I brought it to and I paid him a small processing fee and was happy to do it.
As someone mentioned above it felt good and and felt right to do it for those less fortunate than I am. To me, that's my return for the donation.
Scoot,
I agree completely. Especially with the sarcasm about our options for November.
As for the "i don't claim donations on my taxes" line from several, that's fine if that is the path you choose. However, I (and most people for that matter) don't do any of my giving so I can get deductions. (That doesn't add up as you still only get a small percentage back) However, there are times I am able to give more to something or someone because I know what the long term cost is due to the tax deduction.
I started this thread with an honest question not to draw attention to the fact I may give away part of my harvest but because I was curious. If I donate part of my meat it will be a combination of wanting to help and the fact that my family struggles to consume an entire elk in year's time. This thread has told me that there is no deduction available to me and that is good to know. However, it will not change what I end up doing with my meat.
Thanks Big Fin and others for clarifying the issues.
Good luck to everyone who has a tag and condolences to those who don't.
I'm with Charlie on this one....just donate the meat and feel good about it and let God figure out what blessing you get for doing so. :)
Have a great hunt in a great area!
With regards to donating things/money, etc.....I don't advertise, post on social media, do it for a pat on the back, do it strictly for the write-off or any of that....however, I do work hard for my money and pay taxes like anyone else out there and will always claim some of my donations on my tax returns. I typically don't claim things where I volunteer my time for some organizations or if I ever donate meat. I will claim some monetary donations to organizations or clothes donations to Goodwill. I look at it this way, I'd rather give the tax savings back to another charity rather than the wasteful spending of the government.
im not a cpa, but a tax professional. i only have one client who makes this donation and we agreed on $3.00 per pound of deer meat that he donates.
With the amount of money we pay in taxes and the way it is wasted by our government I have no problem with anyone taking any legal tax deduction available, be it self congratulatory or not. The confiscatory taxtion we have subjected ourselves to is boarder line criminal and should be avoided whenever possible, legally of corse.
As one of the approved NM feed the hungry processors, We will give the hunter who wishes to donate an elk or deer a donation receipt. The value of the meat is determined by the hunter. I would follow the advise of the professional tax people as to the value of the meat donation. MGS Custom Cutting,505-598-5254, Kirtland, NM.
There is definitely a legitimate value of a meat donation that can be used as a tax deduction. It is just not as much as some would like and is limited to the value of the meat and meat processing, not any expenses obtaining the meat
Secondly, there is a difference between trumpeting to the world how much you donate to the needy and taking a tax deduction. The only reason not to take the deduction is if you feel the government is doing a better job than you at spending your money. If you don't take the deduction, you send $1 to the charity, and $0.30 to the government. If you take the deduction, you send $1 to the government and in reality it costs you $0.70. Seems to me like the second choice leaves you with more money to donate.
