zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: Define rendering useless and define volunteer
: work.

I would define "useless" as not having a value outside of your working life. Even if you are on call 24/7/365, you are doing other things, maybe even a paying job. ;~)

: I'm not sure how familiar you are with rural
: EMS systems that employ volunteers and first
: responders. We don't hang at the station or
: hospital waiting for calls. We are at home
: lounging with the family, we're running
: errands in town, we're in our bed sleeping
: while on call. We have a handheld or mobile
: unit that's on the nightstand or hanging off
: our belt monitoring the local fire and
: medical dispatch. If our area gets a 911
: call we get "toned out". We jump
: into our own vehicles, drive to the
: firestation from wherever we were located
: and get in an engine or utility vehicle and
: run code to the scene. Once we're done we go
: back to the station get back into our own
: vehicles and drive back home and get back to
: whatever we were doing before. For medical
: calls we can respond direct to scene from
: our home as long as you have your own
: medical supplies bag. So if a watch is
: neccessary to measure vital signs on a
: possible call, it is neccessary to have one
: around all the time, on my person, unless
: I'm in an area where I know I would not be
: able to respond (such as at work 30 minutes
: away or out of town).

I suspect that if you could show that the timekeeper is just one part of a specialized medical instrument, you'd have a pretty good chance. If it was purchased through a EMS/EMT organization, maybe has a BP gauge or thermometer built in, something like that.

: As for rendering it useless. I have not worn a
: wristwatch for at least 2 years. Now I will
: need to start wearing one again because of
: my volunteer work. Granted I have 2 other
: watches that I could easily start wearing
: but who is the IRS to tell me what kind of
: watch I should wear?

They can't tell you what kind, but they can try to measure the cost for the medical portion. Assuming you could purchase a watch which would perform the same function for, say $25, they might allow a deduction of $25. There are precedents for this.

: What if you hate suits and never wear them
: outside of work and only bought them just
: because of the dress code at work?

I suppose that if changed clothes at work every day and left my suits there? Nah, don't think so. But special uniforms (i.e. Police and Fire Dept.'s) are deductible, subject to 2%.

The whole key is the word "special".

: I guess a solution would be leaving the watch
: in the medical bag all the time and buy a
: second one for the fire engine :-).

What about your cell phone? If you have to keep a dedicated line that has to remain open for emergency use and you can't use for personal purposes, that might qualify.

: HAHAHA!

: Obviously I would not buy an Omega Speedmaster
: jsut for the sake of measuring vital signs
: so I think I have to agree that it would be
: a really long stretch trying to claim it as
: a deduction.

Agreed.

Any tax advice expressed in this post is an informal opinion based on the information contained in this post. As such, the advice is not intended or written to be used for the purpose of avoiding any tax penalties and it cannot be used for that purpose.

gatorcpa