Taxes

[Jaimberlyn]

My mother-in-law mentioned that you can do a tax write off if you own an RV. I guess it can technically be considered a second home. Has anyone heard about this tax write off?

[merlinhomeauto]

WE do it every year , yes listed as a second home.

[Rdeejr]

Yes that’s correct and boats may qualify too. With the increased standard deduction and limitation of property/state taxes to 10,000 many will not be able to itemize.

[pjones1969]

Originally Posted by merlinhomeauto

WE do it every year , yes listed as a second home.

Same here

[CHICKDOE]

yes it was considered a 2nd home. but the tax bill passes in december of 2017 changed that. my understanding is that now it can only be claimed as a second home if it has a motor in it (ie motor home). towables are now excluded. congress was supposed to pass a maintenance tax bill this year to resolve this, but with all the politics going i do not know if this was done.

best to double check before just automatically taking this as you have done in past years. also, this was only allowed if you itemized your deductions. with the expanded standard deduction it may be better to take the standard deduction rather than itemized deductions. this is going to be an confusing tax season!

[TeachTexas]

If you do your own taxes get Publication 17 from the IRS. It is free and has all the rule changes and goes step by step through the forms. If you don't want to do it by hand get a tax program like Turbo-Tax to walk you through it. They offer a guaranty on doing it right and offer audit support(for a fee).

[Oaklevel]

We have done it up to this year but need to check into the new tax law........

[whj77372]

The trailers are no longer consider 2nd homes so you can't deduct the interest any more. I have not been able to itemize my federal income taxes for many years. My real estate taxes are very low do to an agriculture exemption and senior exemption which caps my school taxes, the largest of my real estate taxes by far. Medicare has worked well for us and our out of pocket expense is very low. I just picked up 10 prescriptions for 90 days worth of meds for both of us and my copay was a little less then $75. The Advantage plan works well for us with no premium.
As for new tax law I don't think that we will save on our income tax. According to the tax planner that I used it will be just about the same.

[whj77372]

What the IRS is going for is only standard deduction and no itemizing. This will reduce the chance of cheating. The housing lobby has stopped the idea of no real estate taxes and interest being deducted. As it now stands you can get large deductions for expensive homes. Through it is my understanding that this has been capped for interest with the new tax law?

It just doesn't seem right that some very wealthy people pay no income tax at all.

[CHICKDOE]

And what also doesn’t seem right is that many people file their taxes to get multi thousand dollar refunds due to Earned Income Credit and Child Tax Credit.

[whj77372]

Yes poor people do receive those tax credits but they are poor and I am glad that I don't receive them.

[lbrjet]

Originally Posted by whj77372

What the IRS is going for is only standard deduction and no itemizing. This will reduce the chance of cheating. The housing lobby has stopped the idea of no real estate taxes and interest being deducted. As it now stands you can get large deductions for expensive homes. Through it is my understanding that this has been capped for interest with the new tax law?

It just doesn't seem right that some very wealthy people pay no income tax at all.

Donate all of your income to charity and you won't pay any taxes either.

[JKUman]

Originally Posted by whj77372

What the IRS is going for is only standard deduction and no itemizing. This will reduce the chance of cheating. The housing lobby has stopped the idea of no real estate taxes and interest being deducted. As it now stands you can get large deductions for expensive homes. Through it is my understanding that this has been capped for interest with the new tax law?

It just doesn't seem right that some very wealthy people pay no income tax at all.

Not to get into a political debate but the "wealthy" pay over 65% of the taxes collected.

[doc73]

Originally Posted by JKUman

Not to get into a political debate but the "wealthy" pay over 65% of the taxes collected.

Yes, very few actually do not pay taxes. It would be a political issue as to why we are led to believe that they are not

[mebeauc]

Another example of the wealthiest getting the benefits of the “tax cuts”
Not allowing RV interest unless the RV is a motor home is enraging for the average RV owner.
Just saying....

[walaby]

I own two homes, and even deducting the interest for those two homes, and all my other previous itemized deductions, the standard deduction is more favorable. First time in probably 20 years that I am not itemizing.


Mike

[Terry Luther]

If you are talking property taxes instead of federal taxes, some states allow a deduction on travel trailers. By claiming my camper as a second home I saved over $600 on property taxes this year in South Carolina.
Campers with motors are not eligible for the tax break here. Go figure!

[JWood422]

I found this at irs.gov. I interpret it to mean that travel trailers would qualify as a send home in 2018.
https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i10...40545383130256

[babock]

With the SALT limits in place for 2018 and beyond, kinda hard to take those tax deductions anymore. Almost everyone I know is doing the standard deduction for that reason.

[str8t six]

taxation is theft

but the standard deduction is the best for me. RV interest is only $600 a year so its not much.