Rev. Rul. 71-47

The purpose of this Revenue Ruling is to update and restate, under the current statute and regulations, the position set forth in I.T. 4030, C.B. 1950-2, 23.

The question presented is whether donations and gifts made to a volunteer fire company, under the circumstances described below, are deductible as charitable contributions under section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

The volunteer fire company is a private nonprofit corporation and the contributions received by it are used for the benefit of the inhabitants of the incorporated municipality in which the fire company is located.

Section 170(c) of the Code provides, in part, that the term "charitable contribution" includes a contribution or gift to or for the use of a State, or any political subdivision thereof, but only if the contribution or gift is made for exclusively public purposes.

In the cases of Roy C. McKenna v. Commissioner, 5 T.C. 712 (1945), and Isabella M. Sheldon et al. v. Commissioner, 6 T.C. 510 (1946), the court held that contributions to a volunteer fire department are deductible under section 23(o)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 (now section 170(c)(1) of the 1954 Code) on the alternative ground that contributions to a volunteer fire department relieve a political subdivision of a State of the burden of a function normally performed by the political subdivision. The Commissioner acquiesced in these cases in C.B. 1950-2, at pages 3 and 4, on the alternative ground suggested by the Tax Court as a basis for its decisions.

Accordingly, contributions or gifts to nonprofit organizations of volunteer firemen are deemed to be for the use of a political subdivision of a State for exclusively public purposes and, therefore, are deductible under section 170(c)(1) of the Code.

I.T. 4030 is superseded, since the position set forth therein is restated under current law in this Revenue Ruling.

¹ Prepared pursuant to Rev. Proc. 67-6, C.B. 1967-1, 576.