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Old 04-22-2016, 03:45 PM   #1
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Using RV as a second home

I am looking to see if anyone uses their RV as a tax write off as for their second home, and what do you include as doing so.

Thanks in advance.
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Old 04-22-2016, 07:24 PM   #2
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I have in the past and will now that I have my new Class C. I just write of the interest I paid in the last year and maybe the sales tax.
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Old 04-22-2016, 07:36 PM   #3
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I write off the interest on the loan every year as a second home.
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Old 04-22-2016, 10:20 PM   #4
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I wrote off the sales tax when i bought our coach and each year i write off the interest and registration on my taxes.
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Old 04-22-2016, 10:39 PM   #5
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If itemizing deductions, then I deduct the interest paid on the loan for our 5th wheel as well as the owner tax that Colorado charges when registering the RV.

Nothing special needed as far as I know to qualify an RV as a second home. We probably live in our RV more during the summer than in our sticks and bricks home anyway.
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Old 04-23-2016, 11:32 AM   #6
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The IRS classifies a second home as having sleeping, cooking and toilet facilities. That includes RVs and boats with these qualifications. But, you can not rent it out.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p936/ar02.html
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Old 04-23-2016, 11:59 AM   #7
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X2. Mortgage is deductable.
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Old 04-23-2016, 01:35 PM   #8
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Old 04-23-2016, 02:20 PM   #9
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I deducted sales tax and the interest on the loan the year we bought our Georgetown. I think I deducted interest only once since then because we rarely have enough deductions to exceed the standard deduction.

The purchase year tax return was also split - married filing separately, with one itemizing deductions (including the sales tax) and the other taking the standard deduction.

This type of arrangement is complicated by its effects on state and local taxes which need to be calculated multiple ways to see which has the least combined, federal+state taxes.

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Old 04-23-2016, 03:13 PM   #10
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See your tax adviser have been writing off the interest of our RVs and personal property tax for the past 30 years.


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Old 04-23-2016, 04:06 PM   #11
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I write off my interest too. I buy new ones every year or two. The way I see it is I "get the interest back" so the cost of ownership is the down payment that I need to make if I am behind the depreciation game on the one I am getting rid of. I have been ok a couple times and have gotten my rear kicked a couple times! But I. The end it is all the cost of a lifestyle that we love.


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Old 04-23-2016, 09:16 PM   #12
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As long as it has a bathroom the interest can be written off. This is according to our accountant, so we have been doing this every year and even back in the old days when we had a pop up with a potty.
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Old 04-24-2016, 08:28 AM   #13
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We have had 5 or 6 units over the years and as mention above if it has bathroom it qualifies to write off the interest as a second home. I have been using Turbo Tax for years and no problems from the IRS when doing this.
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Old 04-24-2016, 09:24 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jrmorris View Post
As long as it has a bathroom the interest can be written off. This is according to our accountant, so we have been doing this every year and even back in the old days when we had a pop up with a potty.
It must also have cooking facilities and sleeping facilities as-well-as toilet.
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Old 04-24-2016, 09:53 AM   #15
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Why guess. Right from form 1040A procedures:

A home can be a house, condominium, cooperative, mobile home, boat, or similar property. It must provide basic living accommodations including sleeping space, toilet, and cooking facilities.
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Old 04-24-2016, 10:01 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cwc510117 View Post
I write off my interest too. I buy new ones every year or two. The way I see it is I "get the interest back"
You actually only get "your tax bracket" interest back only in the amount that your itemized deduction exceeds your standard deduction.

For example, the standard deduction for married filing jointly is $12,600.

That means you need to have at least that amount of property taxes, mortgage interest, medical expenses, charitable contributions, etc before you can deduct a cent.

Even then, you only get the discount of your tax bracket's tax rate. If your taxable income is more than $ 37,450 and less than 90,750, your tax rate is 25%.

So assuming you are in that tax bracket, and all your deductions with the RV's interest included is less than 12,600 dollars, every dollar in interest is out of your pocket.

Say you pay lots of mortgage interest, and with the RV's interest of $2000 included, and your deductions will exceed $12,600 dollars by the $2,000 contributed by your RV loan, your tax "savings" will be only $500 of that interest. $ 1,500 of it will still be "out of pocket".

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-14-61.pdf

Worse yet, as your loans age, the tax deduction reduces every year till it disappears even though you are still paying the same amount due to more principle being paid and less interest.

The sales tax deduction has to also pass a "test". You can only deduct the higher of your state income tax OR your sales tax based on your gross income plus the sales tax on "large ticket" items like a house, car, boat, or RV; not both.

Financing ONLY because "you can write off the interest" is not good money management. If you have to anyway, you "MAY" get a small financial benefit depending on your particular financial circumstances and where you live.

Additionally, you can only write off the interest from financing the TRAILER in a 5th wheel or Travel Trailer. The truck's interest is NOT deductible. ALL of the motorhome is because it is all one item.
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Old 04-24-2016, 01:28 PM   #17
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Your correct Herk7769, we purchased/financed a new Class C last year thinking we would get a break on deductions for sales tax and mortgage interest. We didn't meet the threshold and never got a nickle credit. We will be paying the loan off in another month. We can use that interest $ for a vacation every year.
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Old 04-24-2016, 01:36 PM   #18
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Herk be's right!

And even if you itemize, you don't get all of the total amount to deduct if you exceed a certain income threshold.
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Old 05-27-2016, 11:32 AM   #19
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We claim our 2013 Georgetown XL 378 as a second home on our fed and state taxes. It was very simple in SC and our dealer recommended it. No problem with the irs or dor.
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Old 05-27-2016, 01:31 PM   #20
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Considering only a third of taxpayers have enough deductions to itemize, i have to wonder how many people think they are writing off the interest (because they enter it into Turbo tax or give it to their their tax preparer) but in reality are just taking the standard deduction and getting zero tax benefit.


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