Note that income is not just salary. If you're getting a free RV space in exchange for helping out, you're getting income which is taxable. Depending on the going rate, you may be getting the value of $20/night for helping out. If you do this for 10 nights, you have income of $200. But there is some rare good news in conjunction with this situation, which is not uncommon for RVers: Sec 119 provides if you're required as a condition of your employment to stay;at the premises, the value of the lodging which you receive qualifies as "excludable income" -- meaning you don't need to report it on your tax return.
BUT (now hear this!) you must document what you did and the value of nights lodging you received. You must of course report the amount of any salary you received. But it will be your responsibility to demonstrate, if challenged, what the value of the excluded income was. A good technique is to document the "going rate", plus the fact you were required as a condition of your employment to be there. It's a good idea to have the Park manager sign your documentation. Keep the name of the manager, the phone number, dates, etc. Even keep a brochure which lists their rates. What's excludable is employer furnished
meals and lodging. The W-2 filed by the RV Park for your services at so many dollars per hour, while employed at an RV park, can trigger an IRS inquiry to the value of the meals and lodging you received as part of that engagement. That's why you'll need to have the documentation -- in case you're challenged.
In our contracts that we sign with campgrounds there is a provision that states that the value of our site will be excluded from our gross income for federal tax purposes per IRS rules on lodging/compensation (irc
1.119(b)): In order to properly perform our duties, we are required to accept employer provided accommodations as defined above. The value of the accommodations will not be included in our gross
income.
BUT (now hear this!) you must document what you did and the value of nights lodging you received. You must of course report the amount of any salary you received. But it will be your responsibility to demonstrate, if challenged, what the value of the excluded income was. A good technique is to document the "going rate", plus the fact you were required as a condition of your employment to be there. It's a good idea to have the Park manager sign your documentation. Keep the name of the manager, the phone number, dates, etc. Even keep a brochure which lists their rates. What's excludable is employer furnished
meals and lodging. The W-2 filed by the RV Park for your services at so many dollars per hour, while employed at an RV park, can trigger an IRS inquiry to the value of the meals and lodging you received as part of that engagement. That's why you'll need to have the documentation -- in case you're challenged.
In our contracts that we sign with campgrounds there is a provision that states that the value of our site will be excluded from our gross income for federal tax purposes per IRS rules on lodging/compensation (irc
1.119(b)): In order to properly perform our duties, we are required to accept employer provided accommodations as defined above. The value of the accommodations will not be included in our gross
income.