Muscatine Rotary Meal Tax Deduction

We are pleased to let you know we have a new program that will allow a larger portion of what you pay quarterly to our local Rotary club to be tax deductible. With our current system, only Foundation money (Paul Harris Sustaining money, your annual $10 Birthday Contribution, Polio money, etc.) is tax deductible because we route these donations through a separate entity – the Muscatine Rotary Club Foundation. Under the new program, those donations will continue to be routed through our Foundation and be tax deductible.

All club members are billed quarterly for all meals for our Monday meetings. For a variety of reasons, people are unable to attend all of our meetings. Attendance usually runs between fifty and sixty percent. As most of you are aware, the “uneaten meals” are what funds most of our local Rotary club’s projects -- Scholarships, Exchange Students, Community Projects, World Projects, etc. In addition, you are also billed $10.00 quarterly for “Special Projects”. That money also helpsfund ourlocal Rotary club’s projects -- projects that don’t necessarily meet the IRS 501©(3) guidelines of our current Muscatine Rotary Club’s Foundation.

With this new plan, you have the option to write 2 separate checks to pay your quarterly invoice in order to take advantage of a tax deduction:

  • One check can be written to the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine with a notation that it is for the Rotary Club of Muscatine. This is for uneaten meals and for Special Projects billing ($10 per quarter). All of this is tax deductible.
  • One check, payable to the Rotary Club of Muscatine, is to cover everything else, including the meals you plan to eat. As mentioned before, some of this is tax deductible as well -- your Foundation giving (Paul Harris Sustaining Membership, annual Birthday Contribution, Polio giving, etc.).

Both checks will be sent to the same address as requested on your quarterly invoice.

This method allows you to take a new tax deduction for uneaten meals and your Special Projects billing. At our request, funds at the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine come back to our club to fund the same Rotary projects as before. Our club continues to be able to use the “missed meal” money and you get a tax deduction. We believe his system is a win-win for everyone.

Since meals are paid in advance, you likely will not know the number of uneaten meals. In that case, you can “settle up” on your next quarterly invoice. Snow birds, or others who know they are going to be gone for much or all of a current invoice billing period,can write their tax deductible checks immediately. “Uneaten meals” is on the honor system, and you are required to keep track. If you write a tax deductible check to the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine, you must indicate on your check what portion is for uneaten meals and what portion is for Special Projects. The Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine will send you an annualreceipt for tax purposes.

You will see one small change on your quarterly billings as a result of these changes. “Meals” will be now listed as “Meals/Charitable Contribution”.

Your Treasurer

Randy3/2010