Community Forums

Cola ny · 05-22-2014, 02:43 PM

Hello folks. Going full-time in five weeks i'm wondering what are the tax write offs as a full-timer can you write your SalesTax off and or your interest rate how does that work?

trackman · 05-22-2014, 03:09 PM

Interest If the unit is your 2nd home. Otherwise we found that the IRS counts you as camping. Good luck and enjoy the ride

Francesca · 05-22-2014, 03:15 PM

I think sales tax write offs are only available for residents of States that have no State income tax.

Alan_Hepburn · 05-22-2014, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trackman

Interest If the unit is your 2nd home. Otherwise we found that the IRS counts you as camping. Good luck and enjoy the ride

The RV can be a second home, but that does not mean that the first home has to have a mortgage - if your home is paid off, or you don't have a home you can still deduct the interest on the RV.

Cola ny · 05-22-2014, 03:37 PM

MyRV will be my only home as I am full timing

trackman · 05-22-2014, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan_Hepburn

The RV can be a second home, but that does not mean that the first home has to have a mortgage - if your home is paid off, or you don't have a home you can still deduct the interest on the RV.

Sorry. I thought that is what I implied.

Rich and Cork · 05-22-2014, 05:50 PM

If you are retired, own most of your stuff and don't have a lot of investment income, you will probably not have enough deductions and will take the standard deduction.

wnytaxman · 05-22-2014, 06:37 PM

Much information, some of which is correct and some of which is not. First off you must be able to itemize deductions to take any RV related deductions. The interest on your RV is deductible as "Other Interest" on schedule A. Do not put it on the mortgage interest line or you will probably get a notice from our friends at the IRS. As for the sales tax, well, not this year unless the law gets changed. In the past you could deduct the greater of your state income tax paid or your state sales tax. Right now the sales tax deduction is gone for 2014 unless it gets legislated back in, which may very well happen. After all, this is a Congressional election year so there may be some goodies handed back to us before year end. But as of right now, there is no sales tax deduction for 2014,

tkcas01 · 05-22-2014, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnytaxman

Do not put it on the mortgage interest line or you will probably get a notice from our friends at the IRS.

Didn't happen for me. 9 years of full-timing and interest on the MH loan was always put in mortgage interest on tax forms and never got a complaint about it. Finally got the sucker paid off.

wnytaxman · 05-22-2014, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkcas01

Didn't happen for me. 9 years of full-timing and interest on the MH loan was always put in mortgage interest on tax forms and never got a complaint about it. Finally got the sucker paid off.

As the IRS becomes more adept at matching 1098's with Schedule A's the odds of that happening will decrease. Some get the notices and some do not, but why take the chance and have your return picked for more scrutiny?

One thing I did forget to mention is the possible tax advantages of putting solar panels on your RV. You may be able to take the solar energy credit for the cost of your solar panels. That is a tax credit, which means it is dollar for dollar against your taxes.

Francesca · 05-22-2014, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnytaxman

Right now the sales tax deduction is gone for 2014 unless it gets legislated back in, which may very well happen. After all, this is a Congressional election year so there may be some goodies handed back to us before year end. But as of right now, there is no sales tax deduction for 2014,

The sales tax deduction for those few States with no State income tax has been let to "expire" practically every Dec. 31st for years. Follows much hand wringing etc. and eventually it's been without fail restored. No reason to expect anything different this year; and it's already in the pipeline. Here quoting This month-old story:

Quote:

The bill, S. 2260, cleverly named the EXPIRE (Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency) Act, is sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). It was introduced on April 28, 2014, and has moved through the Senate Finance Committee. Today, the Senate moved to consider the bill with only Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Mike Lee (R-UT) voting no.

Most recent action taken April 28th, when it went to the full Senate. Link
Smart money has it passing. As usual.

Nuclear · 05-22-2014, 07:25 PM

I get a military disability deduction from my county. I can apply it to the MH or to my house mortgage. Because the value of the MH is significantly less, I apply it to the house.

wnytaxman · 05-22-2014, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francesca

The sales tax deduction for those few States with no State income tax has been let to "expire" practically every Dec. 31st for years. Follows much hand wringing etc. and eventually it's been without fail restored. No reason to expect anything different this year; and it's already in the pipeline. Here quoting This month-old story:

Most recent action taken April 28th, when it went to the full Senate. Link
Smart money has it passing. As usual.

I would agree that the deduction will probably come back, but one statement you are making is incorrect. Whether your state has an income tax or does not is irrelevant. You get the GREATER of your state income tax or your state sales tax. In other words if I paid $10,000 in state income taxes but $15,000 in sales tax I would deduct the sales tax. You would take the sales tax deduction automatically if your state had no income tax.

Francesca · 05-23-2014, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnytaxman

I would agree that the deduction will probably come back, but one statement you are making is incorrect. Whether your state has an income tax or does not is irrelevant. You get the GREATER of your state income tax or your state sales tax. In other words if I paid $10,000 in state income taxes but $15,000 in sales tax I would deduct the sales tax. You would take the sales tax deduction automatically if your state had no income tax.

Sorry-you're right. I went back and read the actual language in the present bill instead of relying on an evidently short lived version floating around that would have eliminated the "choice" for those States that also had income tax, reserving it only to those States where taxpayers didn't have the income tax deduct available.

Looks like that went down before the final version was sent to the Senate.

Now we'll see, right?