How do you reward volunteers avoiding tax implications?

A question was raised at the recent Community Shop Network Meeting in Plymouth regarding rewarding volunteers and payment of their expenses, without their being a tax implication or penalty for those people. Many volunteers, for eample, will have to undertake personal car mileage to collect and deliver shop goods and services - regular payments to a volunteer to cover these expenses is something which legally should be declared by the volunteer as a taxable income. Some shops also reward their volunteers by offering a day out, or vouchers, or discounted goods in return for their time - this again could be classed as a taxable benefit.

A panel of experts in this workshop, together with other shop representatives suggested the following: 

• offer irrregular payments to volunteers rather than a regular monthly allowance as this can be deemed as a payment, rather than a re-imbursement
• additionally, paying "expenses" automatically, without justification, can also be seen in tribunals as the equivalent of paying a salary and could potenitally lead to a volunteer claiming 'employed' status rights in a dispute
• avoid offering 'benefits in kind' such as subsidised goods and services
• promote volunteer outings/visits/excursions etc as training opportunities and staff development