Email required for Board? Deductable expense?

Q1: Can the Board of Directors vote to require all new members to have email access? In one month alone (July 2009) I received 131 emails, 110 of them were HOA related. In the first 6 months of 2009 I averaged 97 HOA emails per month. To have a member on the board that does not have email means that someone has to hand deliver all the emails/problems to that individual if a vote is needed. Between monthly meetings we use email to vote on emergency situations that come up.

Q2: Are there any accountants out there that can tell me if I can deduct a portion of my monthly computer Internet expense as a non-reimbursed expense on my income tax? As the HOA VP and Security Officer, I have our HOA security software installed on my home computer. I do not live at the condo complex, but rent my unit out. I monitor the system from my home at least once a day, making sure all 32 video cameras are operating properly. If not, and I cannot fix it, I email/call the installing company for repairs. We also have a security guard at night that continuously monitors the cameras for "incidents". When we have an "incident" I retrieve video up to a week and copy it to disk from my home for the police.

We have TWO board members that do NOT have e-mail and it is not required. So yes, we do have to print copies of all e-mails, coorespondence, bids, proposals, budgets, agendas, minutes, etc for them. Pain in the b---, yes, but they deserve to be clued in. I certainly would not
disqualify someone from being on the board simply because they don't have e-mail access. As the secretary it's MY job to make sure all board members have copies of information. I do not get reimbursed for part of my internet provider bill (because I have it already) but I do get reimbursed for ink and copy paper.

1. No. The board cannot "screen" nominees. They could, IMHO, list the qualfications of the candidates and let the voters make the choice.

I assume that IMHO = "In my honest/humble opinion". I do not text and had to look that up. I would like to get a more "legal" opinion based more on the law and real world 21st century reality. We have a 160 unit complex and believe it or not, have trouble getting enough owners to volunteer for anything, let alone the Board. Many are absentee landlords and wish to stay that way. The rest would rather complain and expect others to solve their problems. I am not saying that all Board members must "own" a computer, only that they have access to email. How they do that is up to them.

2. No. You should, IMHO, submit a bill for the services to the HOA and let them pay you for your services. As it is now, you are donating services to the HOA. But that kind of donation is not tax deductible.

Again, I need a more "legal" opinion from a CPA rather than an IMHO. You have to be very careful about a "conflict of interest" when one is a Board member and also a paid "contractor" which is what I would be if I billed for my services.

See reply for AnnaD2

Gerald - While the BOD cannot require that all BOD members have access to e-mail, in some states, e-mail is one of the acceptable forms of "written" communiciation to and from the BOD . . . as long as ALL BOD members "receive" the e-mail.

I concur with Michelle. As a side note, one of the best Board members that we ever had on our 5 member board was an elderly gentleman who had more common sense and was willing to do all kinds of non paper related chores than any other Board member. He did not own a computer but he provided us with a stability and expertise that comes with age.

Gerald,

I must echo the others who've suggest consulting with an attorney if you want a legal opinion; same advice for a CPA.

Now you mention you would be a paid contractor, which makes me wonder why you would even ask if you could deduct your expenses on your tax return. As a self-employed tax payer I would think you would know that business expenses are a standard deduction on your schedule SE.

I never said I was self employed. I am retired engineer, also on Social Security and bought the condo for my 92 year old aunt to live in. When she died I was forced to rent it due to falling prices. I only asked if someone who is a member on the Board of an HOA can deduct expenses against their taxable income, and I have yet to receive a straight answer - only opinions. It appears that everyone I have heard from belongs to an upper class "Blue sky HOA", where everyone obeys the rules and all elected members to the Board contribute something. Our complex has 160 units and we are lucky if 3 or 4 owners show up for our monthly meeting - and always the same people. And we are lucky to get 33% participation in our elections. Two of our "elected" members, if they show up at all, contribute even less and volunteer for nothing. This is or "reality".

Our HOA management company has stated that they could only pay me as a "contractor" for a specific job that is not normal for an HOA member. In the past I have spent as such as 2 or 3 hours hours in my home on my personal computer, installed with our HOA security software, searching for video of an "incident" that happened (stolen laundry, graffiti, parking lot fender benders, etc), or when requested by the Police of an incident that they are interested in. That I can be paid for as it takes a lot of time and is not a normal function of a member of the Board. But as you can tell, it is hardly a "Blue sky HOA".

Gerald - Just what do you consider the "normal" functions of a BOD member? The things that you listed are in line with the things that all "active" BOD members do in their communities.

I don't think that any BOD member or PM who posts here and who has been involved with association management for any length of time has had any different experience with apathy from the owners than what you've described. Unfortunately, what you describe is the norm.

Does your BOD have a petty cash fund? If so, I think that it would be appropriate for you to be reimbursed for any supplies that you might be using, such as printer paper, printer ink, etc. Just keep your receipts and turn them in to the BOD treasurer and they will reimburse you from the petty cash fund. If your BOD does not have a petty cash fund, it's very easy to establish one. Your PM or management company should be able to help you with that.

As far as the costs of your internet service for e-mail puposes, neither is a required item to serve on a BOD. Therefore, there is no reason for the association to reimburse you for that expense. Maybe you can deduct it from your income tax. You should consult your tax preparer to see if that's a possibility.

Your association is very fortunate to have someone as dedicated as you. But, you need to keep in mind that if you weren't doing the things that you're doing, they would still probably get done . . . by somebody . . . another volunteer. Or, if the things that you're doing should be being done by your PM and the PM is not doing their job properly, the BOD should contact the PM's boss at the management company and insist that the PM perform all the duties of the job. If that doesn't get the job done, the BOD needs to tell the management company that they want a different PM assigned to their community.

Well I am going to say that I wholeheartedly disagree with many people's statements on #2. I don't think the HOA should "reimburse" a portion of the internet expense.

I find it amazing that someone would attempt either to deduct or get reimbursement on their internet expense. There are a number of reasons for this:

1. I don't believe that you didn't have the expense before and continue the expense after. Nor do I believe that the emails affect your costs that you would otherwise incur.


2. I have serious doubts that the emails actually account for that much of the data that is sent/received through your internet connection.

I find it amazing the number of people who speak about not receiving compensation who think this "expense" should be reimbursed. If indeed a person increased their internet expense as a direct result of board membership I could see it. But I just don't see it for the vast majority of people.

Kirk's post got me thinking. I do part-time contract work (software development, web design, other computer geek stuff) from my home. I have a home office set up and I connect to the client site via the Internet. When my accountant prepares my taxes at the end of the year, there is a certain amount deducted from my income for my Internet expenses and my office space. It's not the full amount of what I pay, but it helps. You would have to check with a real CPA for the details.

However, those expenses are directly related to an income stream. If I didn't earn any money from it, I wouldn't be able to deduct anything. Even though I take care of the HOA website (and review the video logs from the security system), I don't earn any income from those activities so I can't deduct my Internet expenses for that.

But again, you will need to check with a real CPA (and probably pay him for the info).

No. No you didn't. We can assure you that your "issues" are and have been an ongoing dialogue with most of us from the moment we stepped up to the plate at our respective HOAs.

The best you can say is that you joined the dialogue. We've been having it for quite some time now. And even we didn't "create" it. It's simply the nature of the beast.

Perhaps you should read a bit more of this site and some of the topics that are similar to yours then you might get a better perspective on what most of us have been dealing with as well?

Right, but the point is it's only deductible because it is related to an income stream. If I were to set up an office in my home and dedicate it exclusively to my work on the BOD, I wouldn't be able to deduct any of it because it isn't related to any type of income.