NoNameAtAll wrote:

- quote -

A few years ago, the airlines apparently valued them
at 2 cents/mile on THEIR books. That doesn't mean that
YOU could value them as such.

That was also when a free flight cost 20,000 miles. It's
now up to 25,000 on most plans.

However, if you could deduct them, you probably would
have had to have declared them as income when you got
them, especially if some of them were earned on deductible
business trips.

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NoNameAtAll wrote:

- quote -

You will NOT be able to deduct those miles if they were
earned as a result of travel you have previously deducted
unless you had allocated some portion of that cost to the
miles you earned. To deduct them now would be to double
deduct them.

- quote -

Same problem.

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In August I'm going to Poland as part of a Habitat for
Humanity Global Village Project to help construct a
three-story structure that will house families who could not
otherwise afford homes. I'm cashing in my own frequent flyer
miles for the flight and paying $1400 to cover my living
expenses while I'm there + a donation to the local Polish
Habitat for Humanity affiliate. The primary purpose of the
trip is to build the home, though there will be some time
for sightseeing as well.

Can I deduct all my expenses as a charitable contribution?
Can I somehow deduct the value of the frequent flyer miles
I'm cashing in? I have to use 50,000 miles, and I'm told
that as a general rule frequent flyer miles are worth about
2 cents each, which in this case amounts to $1000. However,
actually booking the flight plan I'm getting would cost more
than that.

Also, it is possible to donate Delta frequent flyer miles
directly to Habitat for Humanity. I haven't the slightest
idea what they do with miles donated to them, but I have
about 25,000 Delta frequent flyer miles sitting around that
I'll probably never use and I thought I might just donate
them all. Is there some way I can deduct that from my taxes?
If so, how do I arrive at an appropriate value?

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