How do you handle Transportation Expenses

[Beavah]

 

How do you guys handle transportation costs for long trips. Do you do special fundraising, or make the boys pay the drivers something extra, or just let the drivers "donate" their gas?

 

 

[ASM857]

We normally treat it like meal money, like when we went to Oklahoma we figured mileage & scouts attending came out to $50.00 a scout. They had the option to raise the funds or pay, the fund raiser was selling Candy bars in front of local stores or at mom & dads employer. On smaller trips we donate the gas and I keep my log for end of year tax purposes.

 

YIS

Doug Buth

[eolesen]

We charge it separate from the participation fees, and base it on the distance. In-town events rarely have a fee, but if we're going more than 20 miles one-way, we'll tack on a transportation fee starting at $5, which is collected in cash at departure from the church and distributed to the drivers.

 

Definitely keep a log for tax purposes. I'm sitting at over 1000 miles for 2007.

[John-in-KC]

Gotta agree with the log!

 

When we sent folks to Philmont, Northern Tier, and Packerd, we used the IRS standard rate, and prorated it by the number of seatbelts per vehicle.

 

BTW, all three of these destinations are overnight NTP trips for where we are!

[hotdesk]

We let the drivers choice one of three options:

 

1. reimbursement for only gas

2. reimbursement for mileage at $.47/mile

3. donating their gas

 

many of our adults simply donate their gas. when the want reimbursement they'll go after option number 2.

 

The money is paid out of the general troop fund, which is money from dues and the troop's split of fundraisers (which is usually always 25% of the profit with the troop also getting reimbursed for any expenses occurred during the fundraiser).

 

We do multiple fundraisers and added a couple of this year to help pay for transportation. The fundraisers that we do include Cartridge Recycling (general fund), Canopy Rentals (general fund), Pancake Breakfast and Spaghetti Dinner (75% scouts/25% troop), Fair Parking (90/10), and a Car Wash (75/25).

[GernBlansten]

I take the standard IRS tax deduction for mileage for every scout activity I particpate in less the ones I'm reimbursed for by the scouts. In those cases of reimbursment, I tally my fuel costs and divide them by the scouts and myself in the vehicle and have the costs applied to each scout account.

[mdutch]

On shorter weekend camping trips, the drivers donate gas in exchange for free food/camping for the weekend. On longer/bigger trips, we either

1. Factor it into the cost we charge people up front or

2. Have each scout work it out with the driver individually.

[evmori]

We have always figured it into the per person cost of the trip.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[eagle90]

For weekend trips, the driver donates his gas, but we normally do not charge the adults for food, camping fees, etc. For Summer Camp and/or High Adventure trips the estimated transportation fees are included in the cost up front. Last year when gas went from $2.00 to over $3.00 per gallon before camp, we added a fuel surcharge of $20.00 per scout and everyone understood and no one complained.

 

Dale

[eisely]

We have no consistent methodology. For most outings beyond a few miles, we reimburse drivers a flat amount regardless of vehicle capacity. On some longer outings I have been responsible for I collect the gas receipts and reimburse for actual expenses.

 

If I am not mistaken the mileage rate for use of a POV for charitable purposes is much much less than for business purposes. Those who are recording and deducting mileage need to make sure they are using the correct rate.