Tax attorney Mark J. Kohler explains how RV owners can deduct their vehicle if it's used more than 50% for business. You can use the standard mileage rate (54.5 cents per mile in 2018) or deduct actual expenses like depreciation and fuel. Renting out your RV or using bonus depreciation can maximize write-offs.
Chapters
Do you own an rv? Are you wanting to get a tax write off when you jump in that bad boy and drive across the country? Well, I own an RV as well. I should say travel trailer. You got to get it right. Well, let's talk about ways to deduct it on your tax return. So I've got the whiteboard here to make sense of this because it is a little complicated. So let's start with point number one. If you want to write off your rv, you got to have a business purpose. That's the only way. Now, some of you, that idea just flew out the window and you're going to switch off. But hang with me here, I think you might learn something that could be really exciting for you as an RV owner. So again, whether it's a travel trailer, an rv, if you've got a business purpose, so you're going to drive to a rental property, park it out front, work on your rental property, do some improvements, maybe you're going to a conference, a trade show, maybe you're picking up supplies. I've got clients with all these different types of business purposes to get in the RV and move across the country to be at a certain place for a business purpose. So I'm going to put that down here as number one business purpose. Now, we can talk about that. And we do this with our clients. We've got five tax attorneys here at our office helping clients around the country. And we can save you 10 times whatever you're paying us to help tailor plan to you. But we want to make sure that you've got a business purpose first and foremost. Now, once you've got that business purpose, there's two options. You can do mileage, which is really easy. Mileage is 54 and a half cents right now in 2018. Sorry. And trying to write and say numbers at the same time is tricky. So in 2018, it's 54 and a half cents. It's going to change every year. So look up the rules. This video might be out for a couple years before I reshoot it. So just double check your mileage rate. So you're driving for business. Get in the rv, you hit the road. Now, let's say you've got a toad. Yes, I know what a toad is. That's that towed vehicle you see sometimes behind an RV if you don't know that term. So you could also write off the business mileage for your toad once you get to your location, because you might get there and then still need to run around and pick up Supplies, meet with clients, customers, who knows what. So any business miles to get to and from your primary home, you're off to the races. Now, notice I put a little caveat in here. This is not your primary residence. So any of you that are full time RV, watch some of my other YouTube videos, type in Mark Kohler RV, and you can look, look at some of the more detailed explanations of how you deal with this when the RV is your primary residence. So you're a full time RVer, but in this example, I'm saying you're not primary residence, so the RV is not your primary residence. Now your second option in this strategy is to do actual. Now, in order to do actual, which means you're going to get to write off depreciation, you're going to be able to write off the fuel because we know you're getting great gas mileage, right? So I want to do fuel repairs, maintenance, all this good stuff that's called actual. So you don't do mileage. You can even write off the insurance. You know, that's for this RV. But the rule is you've got to use the RV for business purposes more than 50%. Now you may say, well, my RV is 100% business, right? Well, I'm going to write off 100% of the actual. Most people are going to go to the national park once in a while, go on a vacation and use the rv. So we're going to look at your total miles, uses or day usage and during the year and make sure we carve out how much of that RV is really business. Now, some people are also renting out their rv, which can allow you to create more business use with an RV as well. That's pretty exciting. So there's some math involved in that. Now, last little trick, that's pretty cool. In 2018, there is what's called bonus depreciation. And in the year you purchase a car, the RV, you might even get what's called Section 179. So these are ways to write off the RV even faster if you're buying it new or used. So in the year of acquisition, you get a bigger write off. Now, for some of you that already have an rv, you can still do actual. You just put it in the business and you're off to the races. Or you can use mileage. Now, bottom line, what I want to recommend is you talk to your accountant and if your accountant starts rolling their eyes and you can't write off your RV and they think it's aggressive or too much of a red flag item on your return, you have the wrong accountant. This is a very common strategy. It's not too aggressive and you need to upgrade. And I don't care if it's your brother in law or your sister doing it on TurboTax in the basement for a spaghetti dinner, sometimes you need to upgrade. And again as a real CPA and tax lawyer, some people oh I don't want to pay for that. Well you know what, we're going to save you 10 or 20 times or more when you pay for good advice. So whether it's me or someone else, pay for an upgraded professional that can help you do your tax return. And maybe time to upgrade from tax slayer TurboTax. If you've got a small business so it's okay. But if your accountant is blowing you off and telling you no no no, it may be time to make a change so your RV can be a write off when you travel. Look at the rules, meet with your accountant and do it right. Thanks so much for watching that video
and I want to be your source
for tax and legal strategies.
It's hard enough to live the American dream without being out on the web on Google trying to find answers to complex questions and just clicking a mouse hoping you got it right. My team and I want to be a huge resource to you, the law firm, accounting firm, my education resources on my site. Please continue to follow these strategies. I know they'll save you thousands. Now click here if you want to be a part of my newsletter. It's awesome. Weekly updates and deadlines and strategies and tips. Also subscribe to my YouTube channel. You'll love it. And make sure to click the bell icon so you get a little ping
whenever there's a new video.
And finally, check out my site marjoler.com with all sorts of videos, probably 70 plus videos, 30 plus hours of content
