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Old 01-19-2025, 07:13 PM   #1
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RV loan as a tax write off???

We currently own a home in California and another in Arizona. We consider our home in AZ as our primary residence and the one in Cali as a vacation home.
Both homes are paid for with no loans against them for the past few years.

We just purchased a Renegade Explorer RV and decided to use the banks money instead of our retirement funds, at least until the stock market swings the other way.

My question is in regards to the ability, or not, to write off the interest on this RV loan as our secondary home. We have had RV’s in the past, while also owning a home with a loan, and we were able to call it our secondary home and write off the interest on the loan each year during tax time. Just not sure how it works now in retirement, with two homes as they are paid off with no loans on either.

Any input would be much appreciated.
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Old 01-19-2025, 07:20 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tozlakes View Post
We currently own a home in California and another in Arizona. We consider our home in AZ as our primary residence and the one in Cali as a vacation home.
Both homes are paid for with no loans against them for the past few years.

We just purchased a Renegade Explorer RV and decided to use the banks money instead of our retirement funds, at least until the stock market swings the other way.

My question is in regards to the ability, or not, to write off the interest on this RV loan as our secondary home. We have had RV’s in the past, while also owning a home with a loan, and we were able to call it our secondary home and write off the interest on the loan each year during tax time. Just not sure how it works now in retirement, with two homes as they are paid off with no loans on either.

Any input would be much appreciated.
Well... I play a tax accountant, lawyer, and professional dinosaur walker on TV plus I once stayed in a Holiday Inn Express. That means I's qualified to say this:


Ask your tax advisor/accountant. A real one, not me on TV.
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Old 01-19-2025, 07:22 PM   #3
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Agree, call your certified tax advisor. You are not going to be able to use posts from the forum to convince the IRS you followed the rules.
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Old 01-19-2025, 07:26 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by Spdracr39 View Post
Agree, call your certified tax advisor. You are not going to be able to use posts from the forum to convince the IRS you followed the rules.


You're going to get all sorts of opinions. But the only one that'll stand by you when you get audited is your tax accountant.
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Old 01-19-2025, 07:31 PM   #5
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So it sounds like none of you that responded are in our situation to give me valuable information.
The question is a starting point to what others have experienced prior to me contacting my tax expert.
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Old 01-19-2025, 07:34 PM   #6
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Old 01-19-2025, 08:14 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tozlakes View Post
We currently own a home in California and another in Arizona. We consider our home in AZ as our primary residence and the one in Cali as a vacation home.
Both homes are paid for with no loans against them for the past few years.

We just purchased a Renegade Explorer RV and decided to use the banks money instead of our retirement funds, at least until the stock market swings the other way.

My question is in regards to the ability, or not, to write off the interest on this RV loan as our secondary home. We have had RV’s in the past, while also owning a home with a loan, and we were able to call it our secondary home and write off the interest on the loan each year during tax time. Just not sure how it works now in retirement, with two homes as they are paid off with no loans on either.

Any input would be much appreciated.
It depends on what other deductions you have. Before you can even consider writing off the interest you will need to exceed the standard deduction which has gotten pretty large while the list of what can be written off has gotten smaller. Like others have said it’s a question for your tax advisor.
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Old 01-19-2025, 09:15 PM   #8
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Never mind. Deleted what I wrote before.

Talk to your tax guy BEFORE you buy the RV.

But in general - no, unless you sell the house in California. Maybe if you make a lot of capital gains on that sale, itemizing for one year might be useful.

Since you are retired, has your income dropped from when you were working full-time?

When we retired, we dropped below the threshold for itemized deductions. Can't write off interest if you are not itemizing.

Standard deduction in 2025 will be $15,000 - or $30,000 for a couple.
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Old 01-19-2025, 09:34 PM   #9
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If you are debt free, you might just be better off taking the standard deductions. In our case itemized "Long Form" NETS us less than the Standard Deduction.
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Old 01-19-2025, 11:05 PM   #10
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The houses have property taxes that can be written off. In most cases you don't have property taxes. So you would only gaing the preference of the interest less property taxes you pay on you second house which you would no longer claim. But first you need to have deductions that exceed the standard deduction.
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Old 01-20-2025, 09:52 AM   #11
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So, you're asking if you can deduct the interest on a consumer loan for a recreational vehicle, ahhh, generally NO.

You should have taken out a mortgage on your primary home to pay for the RV. Then if the total of all your itemized deductions exceeds the standardized deduction, it will be deducted.

Don't take any advice of anyone here on the forum, you didn't give us enough of your tax information to give any good advice.

Use the information you already have, look at last years tax return, if there hasn't been any significant financial changes and you used the standard deduction last year, it will be the same this year.

Finically, we are sort of in your same situation and I generally keep track of all my itemized deduction items each year and when all added up at tax time, they are sort of a drop in the bucket compared to the standardized deduction that is allowed.

Disclaimer - There may have been a error in my advice ststed above.
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Old 01-20-2025, 10:03 AM   #12
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Good info by many to put into my brain. Much appreciated!
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Old 01-20-2025, 10:14 AM   #13
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I know that any information here must be verified by a tax advisor for one's individual circumstances. However, my understanding is that basically a RV, boat, cabin in the woods, etc. is considered a second home if it has sleeping, cooking, and bathing facilities and manufacturers of these lobby congress hard to keep this accommodation.

When we itemized our deductions, I always included the interest on our motorhome loans.

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So, you're asking if you can deduct the interest on a consumer loan for a recreational vehicle, ahhh, generally NO.

You should have taken out a mortgage on your primary home to pay for the RV. Then if the total of all your itemized deductions exceeds the standardized deduction, it will be deducted.

Don't take any advice of anyone here on the forum, you didn't give us enough of your tax information to give any good advice.

Use the information you already have, look at last years tax return, if there hasn't been any significant financial changes and you used the standard deduction last year, it will be the same this year.

Finically, we are sort of in your same situation and I generally keep track of all my itemized deduction items each year and when all added up at tax time, they are sort of a drop in the bucket compared to the standardized deduction that is allowed.

Disclaimer - There may have been a error in my advice ststed above.
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Old 01-20-2025, 10:15 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alank View Post
So, you're asking if you can deduct the interest on a consumer loan for a recreational vehicle, ahhh, generally NO.

You should have taken out a mortgage on your primary home to pay for the RV. Then if the total of all your itemized deductions exceeds the standardized deduction, it will be deducted.

Don't take any advice of anyone here on the forum, you didn't give us enough of your tax information to give any good advice.

Use the information you already have, look at last years tax return, if there hasn't been any significant financial changes and you used the standard deduction last year, it will be the same this year.

Finically, we are sort of in your same situation and I generally keep track of all my itemized deduction items each year and when all added up at tax time, they are sort of a drop in the bucket compared to the standardized deduction that is allowed.

Disclaimer - There may have been a error in my advice ststed above.
A loan for an RV is deductible provided it meet the required criteria as a vacation home. You will need to work with your tax accountant to figure out if that makes sense to do. In my case the Combined deductions for my RV loan and home loan together are not worth as much as the standard deduction.
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