Posted on 03/07/2019 9:31:48 AM PST by Red Badger
Key Points
Normally you can’t take a tax break for your pet but, under select circumstances, you might be able to.
The IRS once allowed an exotic dancer to deduct the cost of breast implants.
Is your pet a social media influencer? You just might be considered a small business.
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You probably know by now that charitable deductions are tax-deductible. But how about the cost of caring for your pet? Or your kid’s clarinet lessons?
In select cases, the IRS has permitted taxpayers to deduct off-beat expenses on their tax returns.
Here’s the key: Those costs must meet certain conditions; they can’t just be personal expenses.
For instance, these costs might be a qualified medical expense or they are an entrepreneur’s “ordinary and necessary” business expense.
“Pets aren’t deductible,” said Lisa Greene-Lewis, a CPA with TurboTax. “But if there are medical reasons for a service animal, then you can deduct their expenses.”
This tax season is especially notable because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which took effect in 2018. The new law roughly doubled the standard deduction to $12,000 for singles ($24,000 for married joint filers), eliminated personal exemptions and limited itemized deductions.
Due to those changes, only about 18 million households will itemize in 2018, down from 46.5 million households in 2017, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
That means it could be harder for filers to claim off-beat itemized deductions on their returns.
Nevertheless, here’s a sample of some deductions filers have sought — and received from the IRS.
Breast implants
Generally, you can’t collect a tax break for cosmetic surgery.
However, in 1994 the U.S. Tax Court allowed an exception in the case of Cynthia S. Hess, then a self-employed exotic dancer in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Hess, who was also known as Chesty Love, underwent a series of dramatic breast augmentation surgeries in 1988.
She tried to nab a depreciation tax break on the implants, declaring them a deductible business expense.
The IRS initially blocked the deduction, asserting that the implants were a personal cost. However, the Tax Court found them to be a business expense and ruled in Hess’s favor.
Private air travel
Back in 1990, the Tax Court ruled in favor of John and Joana French, who tried to write off on their 1984 taxes on a private plane they used to check on their rental condo.
The Frenches were based out of San Jose, California, and their condo was in Mammoth Lakes, California. The two had the choice of driving more than six hours or taking the one commercial flight available in order to look after their property.
The IRS had argued that the family enjoyed flying to Mammoth Lakes and that they would ski and swim during their visits, therefore the trips were actually vacations.
The Tax Court permitted the write-offs: “We do not consider the expenses here to be unreasonable given the surrounding circumstances, if it is considered reasonable for petitioners to personally manage the condo.”
Pet expenses
The IRS allowed a junkyard owner to deduct the cost of cat food as a business expense. In this case, the taxpayer asserted that the food was necessary to attract feral cats, which kept the junkyard’s pests — wild rats and snakes — in check.
On the other side of the spectrum, if you have a service animal or guide dog, you can deduct the cost of buying, training and maintaining it. This would count as a medical expense.
Finally, if your pet becomes an internet sensation, you might be able to deduct related costs as business expenses, said Greene-Lewis.
Be aware that your pet’s activities must be considered a business — not a hobby — in order for those expenses to be deductible.
The IRS has a nine-part test to help you make the determination, addressing the time and effort spent into making your activity profitable and whether you maintain accurate books and records.
Swimming pools and weight loss
Here’s one situation where a swimming pool isn’t just a money pit: Your doctor prescribes it to treat a medical condition.
“If your doctor prescribes exercise in a swimming pool and you need it to mitigate a disease, it could be deductible as a medical expense,” said Greene-Lewis.
The same goes for weight-loss aids that your doctor prescribes to treat a particular illness. This might be deductible, but only to the extent it’s not covered by insurance.
Clarinet classes
In 1962, the IRS added a provision that allowed a tax deduction for clarinet lessons based on an orthodontist’s recommendation that the woodwind instrument could help correct a child’s overbite.
“The cost of the instrument and the clarinet lessons were deductible as a medical expense,” said Greene-Lewis.
So if I get a prescription for hookers and blow for medical reasons...
Looks like the Jerry Springer set ....... stage not the rack ! PG-13 .
I knew a guy years ago who would have his doctor write prescriptions for over-the-counter medications like Tylenol and certain types of shampoo so he could deduct the costs on his tax returns.
You can do that now thru Health Care Savings accounts............
Only if your name is Bill Clinton.
The funniest one was when I had a minister list “birth control pills” as a housing allowance expense excluded from taxable income.
I ask him why?
He replied that without the pills he would need a bigger house!!!
My wife is an MD, so I asked her for a handicap parking permit.
She replied, “They don’t issue them for mental illness!!!”
If you drive a truck for a living you can write off Dog expenses as a “Security” cost. There is a fringe benefit that comes with this too... Where there are regulations controlling “idle time” or what’s called “anti-idle” laws having a pet on board makes you exempt. They don’t care if a human freezes to death, but they would never allow this to happen to a pet and so they are an exception to the rule.
already been done, about 20 years ago a guy Won his tax case for writing off all expenses for going to a brothel, his doctor advised him to have sex more often for prostate reasons but his wife refused to participate, so he flew to vegas every week and took a limo to pahrump
“If your doctor prescribes exercise in a swimming pool and you need it to mitigate a disease, it could be deductible as a medical expense,” said Greene-Lewis.
This is interesting. We did get a doctors note when we bought our hot tub. Because it was a medical expense, we did not have to pay state sales tax. Saved a few hundred bucks. But we didn't deduct it our on IRS Returns.
You can always file an amended return..................
I would design, build and sell a few kits a year which made the model airplane hobby expenses all deductible.
I included everything but grocery bills and pet expenses.
I think we should be allowed to expense out a live in massage therapist. Doc said he would write a script for me but none of the massage parlors accept Medicare.
No, you cannot. HSA not for OTC. Enjoy the audit.
Still need a Rx for OTC................
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