IRS Allows Employees To Donate Vacation Time

[jeffrey]

The Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have set up a special program (Under Notice 2005-68) to encourage employees to donate their unused sick or vacation days to "aid victims who have suffered from the extraordinary destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina."

According to the IRS, employees can donate their vacation, sick or personal leave days back to their company. Their company then takes the value of the time donated and makes a cash donation to qualified tax-exempt organizations providing relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.




The employer must make the cash payment before January 1, 2007. In return, the employees do not have to count the donated leave as part of their income and employers are allowed to deduct the amount of the cash payment off their taxes.

If you consistently do not use all your vacation or sick days, talk to your employer about donating the unused time to help the victims of the Katrina disaster.

[larosa7357]

I just don't agree with one particular aspect of this idea: Why is the time-length in which an employer must donate the cash, extended all the way to 2007?. I can see a 3-month or so period. Within 3 months or so, an employer can accumulate more than "dribs 'n drabs" worth of vacation/sick-time money value. Why the need to hold on to the money for so long? I don't know...maybe I'm missing something here.

Fran