Davis v. United States (1990)
| Davis v. United States | |
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| Argued March 26, 1990 Decided May 21, 1990 |
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| Full case name | Davis, et ux. v. United States |
| Citations | 495 U.S. 472 (more)
110 S. Ct. 2014; 109 L. Ed. 2d 457; 1990 U.S. LEXIS 2571; 58 U.S.L.W. 4587; 90-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) P50,270; 65 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1051
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| Holding | |
| Charitable donations must be given to the qualified organization, not a member acting on its behalf. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | O'Connor, joined by unanimous |
| Laws applied | |
| 26 U.S.C. § 170 | |
Davis v. United States, 495 U.S. 472 (1990), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court. It concerned claims made by parents of two missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that their monetary contributions toward their sons' mission expenses constituted a "charitable contribution" under provisions of Treas. Reg. § 1.170A-1(g) (1989), a position that lower courts had rejected. In a unanimous decision, the Court ruled that these contributions could not be seen as "charitable contributions" under provisions of that statute.
A husband and wife, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, transferred funds into the personal checking accounts of their two sons, who were called to service as full-time, unpaid missionaries for the Church. The amount transferred equaled the amount the Church estimated would be needed to support this service. The sons used the transferred funds primarily to pay for rent, food, transportation, and personal needs while on their missions (in conformity with Church guidelines, which required such funds to be spent for only missionary work and forbade various leisure or personal activities). The sons submitted weekly reports of their total expenses for the week and month to date (even though these guidelines did not require the sons to obtain advance approval of each expenditure they made from their checking accounts).
In their 1984 amended federal income tax returns for the years 1980 and 1981, the parents claimed these amounts as deductible charitable contributions. The Internal Revenue Service disallowed the claims. The parents sued for refund of the claimed amounts pursuant to §170 of the Internal Revenue Code (which allows a deduction for a charitable contribution or gift "to or for the use of" a qualified organization) or as unreimbursed expenditures made incident to the rendition of services to a charitable organization under Treas. Reg. § 1.170A-1(g) (1989). In a second set of amended tax returns, filed in 1986, the parents limited their claimed charitable deductions to the amounts that had been indicated by the Church.
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