The Helping Our Heroes Act would add a new charitable deduction under the Internal Revenue Code for the service of bona fide volunteer firefighters and emergency medical and rescue personnel. For each hour of qualified service, the individual would be treated as contributing $20 to the organization they serve, with a cap of 300 hours per taxable year.
The bill also provides an inflation adjustment to the per-hour amount after 2026 and sets verification requirements for contributions under the new subsection.
In addition, the bill aligns non-itemizing deductions with this new provision by restricting the itemized deduction under Section 63(b) to the amount that would have been allowed if the 170(q) contributions were the only factor considered. It also defines what qualifies as a bona fide volunteer and what counts as qualified services, and it explicitly excludes Members of Congress from counted hours.
The changes would apply to tax years beginning after December 31, 2025.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill adds a new subsection to Section 170 that treats each hour of qualified volunteer service as a $20 charitable contribution, with a 300-hour annual limit, for firefighters and EMS/rescue personnel and related training.
Who It Affects
Individual volunteers (firefighters, EMS, rescue personnel), volunteer fire departments and EMS organizations, and taxpayers who volunteer, including those who do not itemize deductions.
Why It Matters
It creates a formal, monetized value for voluntary service, potentially expanding the tax incentive to participate in essential public-safety roles and shaping how volunteer work is financially recognized.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The core idea of the bill is to monetize volunteer service performed by designated public-safety volunteers as a deductible charitable contribution. It adds a new subsection (q) to Section 170 that treats each hour of qualified service as a $20 contribution, up to a maximum of 300 hours per year.
Qualified services include firefighting, emergency medical and rescue work, ambulance services, civil air patrol, and search-and-rescue activities, along with required or authorized training. A volunteer is defined by the absence of significant compensation beyond reimbursements or reasonable benefits, and the services must be performed for a qualifying organization.
To prevent abuse, the bill requires verification of the contributed amount and includes an inflation adjustment starting in taxable years after 2026, so the per-hour value keeps pace with cost-of-living changes. An explicit exclusion is added for Members of Congress.
The bill also tweaks the tax treatment for non-itemizers by limiting the Section 63(b) deduction to the amount that would have been allowed for 170(q) contributions alone. Finally, the effective date makes these changes apply to tax years beginning after December 31, 2025.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill creates a new charitable deduction under 170(q) for volunteer service by firefighters and EMS personnel.
Each hour of qualified service counts as a $20 contribution, up to 300 hours per year.
An inflation adjustment after 2026 updates the per-hour value.
A verification requirement is established for these contributions.
Non-itemizers deductions under Section 63(b) are limited to the 170(q) contributions, and Congress is explicitly excluded from counting service hours.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
The Act is named the Helping Our Heroes Act. This title formalizes the scope and aims of the statute, signaling that the measure is targeted at recognizing and incentivizing volunteer public-safety services.
Charitable deduction for volunteer services
Section 2 adds a new provision to Section 170 (designating the new subsection (q), with the existing q redesignated as r). The core mechanic is that each hour of qualified volunteer service is treated as a $20 charitable contribution to the organization for which the service is rendered, subject to a 300-hour annual cap per individual. Qualified services include firefighting, prevention, emergency medical and rescue, ambulance, civil air patrol, and search-and-rescue activities, plus training tied to these services.
Valuation, verification, and definitions
The bill defines a bona fide volunteer as one who is not compensated beyond reimbursements or reasonable benefits and standard fees paid by employers of volunteers. It also requires verification of the contributed amount in a manner determined by the Secretary. An inflation adjustment applies after 2026, increasing the per-hour value to reflect changes in the cost of living, with rounding rules to maintain whole-dollar increments.
Non-itemizers deduction alignment
Section 63(b) is amended to allow the deduction to the extent that it would be determined if only 170(q) contributions were considered, ensuring that non-itemizing taxpayers can benefit from the new volunteer service deduction without double-counting other itemized deductions.
Effective date
The amendments apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025, ensuring the new deduction is available for the 2026 tax year and beyond.
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Explore Finance in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Volunteers performing qualified services (firefighters, EMS, rescue personnel) who receive a monetary recognition for their hours in the form of a tax deduction.
- Volunteer fire and EMS organizations that facilitate hours for their members and rely on volunteer labor to deliver services.
- Taxpayers who volunteer and do not itemize, who can claim a deduction up to the 170(q) amount for their hours.
- Local governments or public-safety agencies that manage volunteer programs may see more participation as incentives align with public-safety missions.
Who Bears the Cost
- The federal government loses some revenue due to the expanded deduction, with reductions tied to the combined effect of 300-hour caps and the per-hour value.
- IRS and Treasury resources to administer verification requirements and inflation indexing.
- Organizations and employers may face administrative burdens to verify hours and ensure compliance with the new rules.
- Taxpayers who do not volunteer but could be affected indirectly through shifting deductions or program funding could face broader fiscal impacts.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
How to equitably value volunteer service while preserving tax revenue and keeping administrative costs reasonable: a fixed per-hour rate with a universal cap versus a more nuanced valuation that reflects different kinds of volunteer work and regional cost differences.
The bill introduces a monetized valuation of volunteer service, which raises questions about the appropriate per-hour rate and whether a flat $20 per hour accurately reflects the societal value of different types of volunteering. The 300-hour cap could incentivize broader participation but may disadvantage volunteers who provide longer-term, specialized, or highly demanding service.
The verification mechanism places administrative demands on organizations and the IRS, and inflation indexing will require ongoing calibration to ensure consistency with the CPI-based adjustment. Finally, the alignment with non-itemizers could create complexity for filers when calculating the maximum allowable deduction.
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