Boating Tax Concessions
 

I was wondering if you guys could let some of us in other countries know what tax concessions you get (if any) as a boat owner in the USA.

Also, as a business owner are your boats deductable?

Ie can you claim advertising if you own a business? Is fuel tax deductable? Even your boats can you say that they are for entertainment and get deductions?

If you have any other deductions can you please post them. I have heard that in the USA if you boat has a kitchen and toilet you can claim it as a second house...

I know that if you have a head, and a means of cooking food, you can claim your boat as a second home. Also depending on how the boat is set up, there are many options for tax relief. A good corporate accountant will get you what you need.

unfortunately for us in Australia there are zero tax deductions.

I'm moving to the usa :)

I am an accountant. You can claim a boat as a second home and deduct the interest on it, but it needs to have some amenities like a sink or toilet.

You can not depreciate the boat unless you are in some sort of a boating business like tour gides, towing, mechanic.

Entertainment - you could probobly get away with it as long as you had some clients aboard and you were discussing business. Deduction is limited to 50%.

Accountants are all a little different. If it were me, assuming a boat has nothing to do with your trade or business, I wouldn't let you deduct anything but interest on it, and I don't even do that on my own tax return.

Best not to try anything funny - the IRS can impose hefty penalties and interest.... and its really not worth it. Who wants to lose sleep over some BS tax deduction when they can be peacefully sleeping away on their boat without any worries.

I certainly would not do a business tax deduction unless there was a lot of documentation - who, where, when, what was discussed.

Michael