Okay, so it’s tax time. Typically I write about things that you need to know about regarding deductions, credits, etc. However, let’s have some fun reading about some wacky things that people try to deduct, with some being successful.
Valerie RumboughA scrap yard successfully deducted cat food as a business expense because it was used to attract wild cats that fended off snakes. Another was successful in deducting the cost of transporting pets to a new home as a moving expense. Clarinet lessons and the clarinet were allowable medical expenses, since the items were purchased to help a child’s overbite. A deduction for the cost of boarding school as a medical expense for another taxpayer was allowed, because their child had respiratory problems. Organic food was allowed as a medical expense because the taxpayer had only claimed the price difference between organic and regular, chemically treated food.
Dentures purchased by an actor to help him enunciate without a hiss were not accepted as a business deduction. Candy and flowers given to a person’s secretary were considered personal and not business expenses, and therefore not deductible. One person tried to deduct loofah sponges, a shower curtain, grass seed and sporting goods items as business expenses. It didn’t work because the taxpayer was a pilot. Milk and nail polish remover were not considered deductible as a business expense for a person employed as a tax preparer. High-protein buffalo meat was not considered a legitimate business expense for a professional bodybuilder. A fallout shelter, claimed as preventive medicine, was denied. One taxpayer was denied a deduction for his wife’s mink coat as a business expense so that she could dress well for work functions. Another taxpayer tried unsuccessfully to deduct dancing lessons as a medical expense to improve varicose veins.
My advice to you: Don’t try these at home! Seek the help of a professional (but not the one that likes milk and nail polish remover).
– Rumbough, CPA, CFP, is chief operations officer with the Baptist Foundation of South Carolina. Contact her at 800-723-7242. In accordance with IRS Circular 230, any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.