Tax expensing RV space

[Invisibleman]

I couldn't quite figure out how to title this, and couldn't get a good google search on point.

We are moving into our RV in order to rent our vacation home in Arizona. As such, we had to move the RV from storage to a full service site, a few miles from the home. The home (its a vacation home, not primary) is classified as a business for tax purposes. My question is whether or not I can expense the cost of the RV space, and perhaps other things, like insureance or utilities, agains the rental income?

[melvinjo]

The classification you have it under may/may not be correct: But you said its listed as such: Who or where did you get that info? If from your tax person, ask them if you can use those deductions. States vary, who knows what you can deduct. Go to a professional for a solid answer....

[ependydad]

Please do not take tax advice from the Internet. Talk to a tax professional about your specific situation.

[GravelRider]

I agree. Bad internet tax advice can get very expensive, and 'doing what the internet told me' as a defense won't hold any water.

[5picker]

I'm not a tax expert but I play one on the internet...
Deduct it all and go buy another R/V, claim it as a business and deduct it too.

See... that wasn't hard!

Seriously... do not take R/V tax advice from internet forums.

[Traveling Circus]

Originally Posted by 5picker

I'm not a tax expert but I play one on the internet...

Deduct it all and go buy another R/V, claim it as a business and deduct it too.



See... that wasn't hard!



Seriously... do not take R/V tax advice from internet forums.

Why not, on this forum, the tire pressure experts, the TV experts and the, what you can tow safelyexperts are taken seriously.

[Invisibleman]

I'm just looking for others with experience in this, and our RV forum seemed like just the place. Needless to say, my accountants will have the ultimate say. That said, my experience is that when it comes to niche uses and taxes which are perhaps slighly unique, which I believe this may be, sometimes being able to lead the accountants in the right direction is often helpful. I suspect there are others in the RV universe that have looked into this. And sometimes people can even cite code sections and other good points.

The "business" classification I do have experience in, having rented this and other homes we own, and having my "accountants" clarify that any rental of one's home, or vacation home is "business" income. I do appreciate the words of caution, but enough of the "don't take internet advice," and let's see if anyone has anything to offer, preferrably firsthand experience, as to the question I posed.

[PhilFromMaine]

Originally Posted by Invisibleman

I couldn't quite figure out how to title this, and couldn't get a good google search on point.

We are moving into our RV in order to rent our vacation home in Arizona. As such, we had to move the RV from storage to a full service site, a few miles from the home. The home (its a vacation home, not primary) is classified as a business for tax purposes. My question is whether or not I can expense the cost of the RV space, and perhaps other things, like insureance or utilities, agains the rental income?

You have a primary home? Why aren't you moving back to it as opposed to an RV? I have rentals and did AB&B on my primary home for the Summer beach season and for years did my own books and taxes. so I have some experience, but as others have intimated, you shouldn't rely on anything I say, which I am sure you understand.

IMO, if I understand you correctly, you can't call the RV expenses an expense because you have a primary home that you theoretically could be living in. If the "vacation home" was your primary home and when you rented it out you incurred rental expenses such as the RV park you had to move to, I would expense the park fees.

[Aussieguy]

Maybe if..... you have multiple rentals and you drive around a lot inspecting / fixing each property for 3 months AND you never use the RV for vacations..

Business only RV


Otherwise if you were to fly down and stay at a hotel then fly back after business completed.... no vacation time involved that would be a full business expense.

It becomes much more involved when you combine business and pleasure.

You can't claim your house as a business expense just because your rental is being used! Neither can can you claim your RV expenses or camp fees.


I think one of them 87,000 new agents will love your audit
be prepared to prove that you need to be in AZ for 3 months on business



Not an accountant but .... stayed at a lot of Holiday Inn's on the tax man's dime.



PS... if you were physically doing renovations to the rental yourself
and RV was used for accommodation ,transport etc while you worked on the renovations.. that would all be business expense. Keep receipts!

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by PhilFromMaine

You have a primary home? Why aren't you moving back to it as opposed to an RV? I have rentals and did AB&B on my primary home for the Summer beach season and for years did my own books and taxes. so I have some experience, but as others have intimated, you shouldn't rely on anything I say, which I am sure you understand.

IMO, if I understand you correctly, you can't call the RV expenses an expense because you have a primary home that you theoretically could be living in. If the "vacation home" was your primary home and when you rented it out you incurred rental expenses such as the RV park you had to move to, I would expense the park fees.

One also can only deduct that portion of a home as an "Office in Home" that is used exclusively for business.

Hard to deduct an RV as a business expense unless actually renting it out, or using a portion as a business workspace. Then only the percentage actually used along with associated costs (Pro-rated taxes, insurance, utilities, etc).

I had an office in home for 17 years while self employed and another 6 years when I was a field manager for a corporation so I have some experience with this.

[PhilFromMaine]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

One also can only deduct that portion of a home as an "Office in Home" that is used exclusively for business.

Hard to deduct an RV as a business expense unless actually renting it out, or using a portion as a business workspace. Then only the percentage actually used along with associated costs (Pro-rated taxes, insurance, utilities, etc).

I had an office in home for 17 years while self employed and another 6 years when I was a field manager for a corporation so I have some experience with this.

I think what the OP is getting at is that by renting his house (albeit a vacation home) he is having to vacate the premises and find a place to live. If he already owns an RV, but has to go to a park and pay rent, he is incurring a deductible expense to his income from the vacation rental on the days that it is rented.

But in this case, the OP has a primary home that isn't rented out. Why would he need to go on an "RV vacation" (IRS talking) for somewhere to live when he has a primary home that is vacant?

IMO, if audited, that expense would be red flagged.

[Invisibleman]

When I first started this post I thought there probably would be others, of the thousands that follow these forums, that would have first case experiences in this exact or similar situation. Perhaps not. I probably would not have posted it had I realized that. That said, I’ll provide some answers to the questions that have arisen, and see how things develop, or not.

We have homes in Az and the Northeast. Our primary residence is in the Northeast. We routinely spend at least several months a year in Az. A few years ago we started RVing and kept the Dynamax in storage in Az when not traveling. We decided to rent the Az home to offset overhead. That leaves us with no dwelling in Az. So, we moved to a full service site and do stay there when we go to Az. Expense or not, if we aren’t traveling? Admittedly probably an IRS audit trigger, and likely not worth it, and it will be reviewed by our accountant.

Hypothetically, what if we decided to pickup a couple of homes in the area and rent them for income. Where would we stay when we came to manage or oversee them? Hotel, apartment, small house? An expense?

It's been made clear to us, from our accounts and what we read, that any income from ones' residence(s), other than to a direct family member, is considered “business” income. For that matter, even our HO insurance requires a business rider to cover the rental portion of the use. And, you can most certainly deduct direct costs associated therewith, such as realtor costs, cleaning, repairs, etc. But one rental home, and RV expense? Clearly there is good reason for why not just “move” to the primary residence. And I do actively participate in the upkeep and maintenance of the rental.

[Aussieguy]

Before doing anything.... are you actually earning enough.
If your current or expected tax liability from rental income , other businesses and investments isn't high...
kinda a moot point looking for more expenses.

There is plenty of legitimate expenses in a rental make sure you getting the most you can.
----------------------- Other business ----------------------------------

Buy another property in AZ ..it's a RV storage facility
may be a good business where you could offer other people to store their RV's next to your's.

May take a while to get other RV owners to sign up!

Install remote security. Remote Keycodes for gate.
all owners MUST have their own RV insurance liability and comprehensive
You are Not responsible for any of their losses (set this up with a lawyer).


It is still a business even if you don't make a profit ...
You have to expect to make a profit sooner or later!

you will need some liability insurance to cover any "Employee" error.
"Employee" smoking outside
throws butt in trash next to Million Dollar RV could be a issue


BTW the RV yard close to me burned down a few years ago...
OH MY what a mess that was. everything from boats, cars and BIG RV's ...
Millions of $$$$$ gone!

-------------------------?? More properties ?? -------------------
now start to look at buying a investment property in Fl , AZ or other nice places that could earn you rental income ...

traveling by RV to Florida to INSPECT before buying would be a business expense.
spend a week "looking at different properties" wink

Keep receipts and be able to prove you were working / inspecting and doing business.
Make sure you have copies of emails etc for setting up appointments.

No tax rule that says you have to BUY what you inspect.

[PhilFromMaine]

Originally Posted by Invisibleman

When I first started this post I thought there probably would be others, of the thousands that follow these forums, that would have first case experiences in this exact or similar situation. Perhaps not. I probably would not have posted it had I realized that. That said, I’ll provide some answers to the questions that have arisen, and see how things develop, or not.

We have homes in Az and the Northeast. Our primary residence is in the Northeast. We routinely spend at least several months a year in Az. A few years ago we started RVing and kept the Dynamax in storage in Az when not traveling. We decided to rent the Az home to offset overhead. That leaves us with no dwelling in Az. So, we moved to a full service site and do stay there when we go to Az. Expense or not, if we aren’t traveling? Admittedly probably an IRS audit trigger, and likely not worth it, and it will be reviewed by our accountant.

Hypothetically, what if we decided to pickup a couple of homes in the area and rent them for income. Where would we stay when we came to manage or oversee them? Hotel, apartment, small house? An expense?

It's been made clear to us, from our accounts and what we read, that any income from ones' residence(s), other than to a direct family member, is considered “business” income. For that matter, even our HO insurance requires a business rider to cover the rental portion of the use. And, you can most certainly deduct direct costs associated therewith, such as realtor costs, cleaning, repairs, etc. But one rental home, and RV expense? Clearly there is good reason for why not just “move” to the primary residence. And I do actively participate in the upkeep and maintenance of the rental.

A tax deduction has to pass the "straight face test". The IRS, if they got involved, would ask why you went to AZ. If you said to oversee (manage) your rental home they may ask you what you did during those weeks to manage it? Were you "managing" it everyday? How many total hours did you meet with the renters? Was it really necessary for you to be there? Do you have good documentation of your management? If not, IMO, the IRS would say you were simply on vacation and deny the expense deduction or at least part of it.

[Invisibleman]

Phil. Never heard of the "straight face test." Going to do some reading about that, if not for this instance, perhaps something else down the line. Thanks for the lead. That said, I can see this is not likely to gain any traction, which unto itself is good to know. It was farfetched, admittedly, and the results don't surprise me. Thanks to all who shared their thoughts.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Invisibleman

Phil. Never heard of the "straight face test." Going to do some reading about that, if not for this instance, perhaps something else down the line. Thanks for the lead. That said, I can see this is not likely to gain any traction, which unto itself is good to know. It was farfetched, admittedly, and the results don't surprise me. Thanks to all who shared their thoughts.

The "straight face test" is just another way of expressing the "reasonable person test" which is a benchmark in law for determining behavior.

It's going to be used by auditors when determining legitimacy of deductions. I'm sure the IRS has a large database of "justifications and schemes" attempted along with court rulings to justify their denials.

In all my years of self employment I always made sure I didn't try to cheat the "tax man" out of his fair share. As a result I never had to go through the ordeal of an audit. That alone had a lot of value.

Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Forest River Forums mobile app

[jlynn721]

Originally Posted by Invisibleman

I couldn't quite figure out how to title this, and couldn't get a good google search on point.

We are moving into our RV in order to rent our vacation home in Arizona. As such, we had to move the RV from storage to a full service site, a few miles from the home. The home (its a vacation home, not primary) is classified as a business for tax purposes. My question is whether or not I can expense the cost of the RV space, and perhaps other things, like insureance or utilities, agains the rental income?

That doesn’t make any sense.

Can you expense the cost of your primary home because you are renting your vacation home?

I think the IRS is going to have an issue with it.

[garywilson]

Me thinks that if you are claiming a homestead exemption for a house you are renting to another person that might create issues, too.

With 88,000 new IRS employees, now might not be the time to do that.....

Just sayin'.....

[lacamastraveler]

Originally Posted by ependydad

Please do not take tax advice from the Internet. Talk to a tax professional about your specific situation.

Yes, yes. Or medical, social or financial advice.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by garywilson

With 88,000 new IRS employees, now might not be the time to do that.....

Just sayin'.....

Since companies can't get people to work anymore, how does anyone really believe that the IRS will get 88,000 to do IRS-type work? Remember that the younger generation wants jobs that they don't have to do much and it must "make their heart sing"!
IRS Investigators don't exactly meet that.[emoji1787]