Administration

Tieline

Volume XX
Number 2

It's Coming . . .

The Leadership Community Resource (LCR) will officially launch on May 13—the day that Leadership Day will be held at STC’s 54th Annual Conference.

Be sure to check upcoming issues of Tieline for more details on what you can expect from the LCR.

STC Adopts Diversity Policy

STC continuously strives to make efforts to recognize the diversity of its members. As such, the organization has implemented a new diversity policy, which appears below. This text can also be found on the Society Web site.

As an international professional organization, we recognize that the membership of STC includes individuals representing different faiths, religions, beliefs, and lifestyles. STC aims to make its services and benefits available to all members while respecting their differences.

When planning activities that cross borders and include members with cultural, national, and faith differences, every effort is made to assure that these activities are not in conflict with the sensitivities of members. However, because of the global nature of our organization, it is possible that some activities may conflict with national or religious holidays. Should this happen, no insult to members and their culture, nation, or faith is intended or implied.

STC asks anyone who is unable to participate in a Society-level STC event due to a conflict with a national or religious holiday to contact the office. Often, proceedings or papers from events are available to those unable to attend.

If you have any questions about this policy, please contact the STC office at +1 (703) 522-4114.

U.S. and Canadian Members: Deduct Your STC Dues

Editor’s note: We are grateful to Geoffrey J. S. Hart, Associate Fellow of the Montreal Chapter STC, who provided information and guidance for this article.

Depending on which country you live in, you may receive tax benefits in addition to the professional and educational value you receive from Society membership. This article highlights some of the benefits that U.S. and Canadian members may receive.

Benefits in the United States

If you pay taxes in the United States, STC dues are tax deductible. Please note, however, that dues must be deducted from the tax return filed for the year in which they were paid. In other words, dues paid in 2006 may be deducted only from 2006 tax returns. Therefore, if you paid your 2007 dues on or before December 31, 2006, these dues can be deducted only from your 2006 return. Members who have questions should contact their local IRS office or their accountant.

You can claim dues as a deduction in several ways: as a business expense, a charitable expense, or a miscellaneous deduction.

Business Expense

Employers and self-employed consultants may claim the full amount of dues as a business expense.

Charitable Expense

All STC members who pay taxes in the United States can deduct at least a portion of their STC dues if they claim this portion as a charitable donation. IRS publication 526 (rev. 2005) defines this option:

If you receive a benefit as a result of making a contribution to a qualified organization, you can deduct only the amount of your contribution that is more than the value of the benefit you receive.

As a 501(c)(3) organization, STC is a qualified organization. To determine the amount of charitable contribution you may claim, subtract the cost of tangible benefits you receive from STC from the amount of dues you paid in 2006. STC’s tangible benefits can be estimated at $30 per year: $15 for the Society’s quarterly journal, Technical Communication, and $15 for the magazine Intercom. The amount of dues you paid depends on your membership category. Classic members and limited members determine their charitable contribution by subtracting the cost of tangible benefits ($30) from the cost of dues ($150 for classic members, $130 for limited members). Because student members and e-members do not receive printed versions of Technical Communication or Intercom, they do not receive tangible benefits, and may deduct the full amount of dues for 2006 and 2007: $140 for e-members and $55 for student members.

Table 1 will help most members determine their charitable contribution. Please note: If you received prorated credit from STC toward your dues, your dues and charitable contribution will differ from the amounts listed below.

Table 1. Contributions for 2006 and 2007 STC Dues

Membership category	2006 and 2007 dues	Tangible benefits	Charitable contribution
Classic	$150	$30	$120
E-membership	$140	$0	$140
Limited	$130	$30	$100
Student	$55	$0	$55
Retired	$75	$30	$45

Miscellaneous Deduction

Those who do not fall into the categories defined above may claim their dues amount as a miscellaneous deduction. (For miscellaneous deductions to affect taxes, the total amount of miscellaneous deductions must exceed 2 percent of your adjusted gross income.)

Money, Not Time

Please be aware that while dues, contributions, and out-of-pocket expenses may be deducted, personal services may not.

Benefits in Canada

Some of the information in this section comes from “The Economics of STC Membership: For Everything Else, There’s Mastercard,” an article written by Geoffrey J. S. Hart, Associate Fellow of the Montreal Chapter STC, for the February 2005 Tieline.

STC membership fees are generally deductible from your income tax, particularly for freelancers. In many jurisdictions including Quebec, STC membership qualifies as an educational expense.

According to Hart, tax deductions depend on how much you paid for your specific category of membership and how you are declaring the expense. Many jurisdictions allow freelancers to include one professional association membership in their eligible expenses, in which case the entire amount of your membership expenditure is an eligible deduction.

Hart also notes that membership may qualify as an educational expense, whether as a personal or a company one. “In Quebec, for instance, companies are required to spend a certain minimum percentage of their gross budget on training, and STC membership qualifies,” he explains.

According to Hart, another possible way that both U.S. and non-U.S. members can deduct their dues is by writing off the cost of all purchased STC publications under the “books and publications” expense category on their tax forms. Doing so allows members to write off the costs of Technical Communication, Intercom, and community newsletters.

If you would like additional information about the tax benefits you may be able to receive as a result of STC membership, whether you live in one of these areas or elsewhere, please consult your local tax laws or speak to a tax attorney.

Let Us Know about Tax Benefits in Your Country

The communication department is preparing a more encompassing version of “U.S. and Canadian Members: Deduct Your STC Dues” to run in our publications next year. To do this, we need your assistance. If you are familiar with tax benefits that members in your country are able to receive as a result of their STC membership, please e-mail this information to the Tieline editor. Thank you in advance for your help.

Ask the Office

Do you have a question that you would like to see addressed by the “Ask the Office” column in Tieline?

We invite you to submit questions for publication in upcoming issues. Please forward questions to the Tieline editor. We hope to hear from you.