Tax Deductions for Vacation Rental Owners

How to Get More Tax Deductions for Rental Property Owners

Here are the Top Ten Tax Deductions for Vacation Rental Owners

1. Interest

2. Depreciation

3. Repairs

4. Local Travel

5. Long Distance Travel

6. Home Office

7. Employees and Independent Contractors

8. Casualty and Theft Losses

9. Insurance

10. Legal and Professional Services

So, did you know - You can rent out a vacation home tax-free, in some cases.

Many vacation rental owners go crazy during tax season, trying to gather the needed information on how much rent they collected the previous year. However, some do not realize that many of their expenses can be claimed as deductions, and that those should be calculated before April 15th as well.

There are many factors that must be considered to keep yourself out of trouble with the IRS when filing taxes and claiming deductions. Such things can be the amount of time you use your vacation home, how many nights you rented it out, and your personal income. For many vacation rental owners, it is easier to hire a tax attorney to handle all the complicated business that is income taxes.

To begin compiling all the necessary information for your second home, calculate your total gross rental income. This includes all the money you received, and kept, from your guests, whether it be through any of your fees (rental, cleaning, parking, pet, etc.) and any security deposits kept. Be sure NOT to include refunded deposits and sales tax.

Many of your expenses for your rental property can be at least partially, if not fully, deductible on your taxes. You at least want to gather the amounts of these expenses for your tax professional. Start with your mortgage, tax, and insurance related costs, and include property taxes, all forms of insurance, mortgage interest, homeowner’s fees and related costs.

Include all utility bills and the costs incurred for housekeeping, maintenance, repairs, cleaning supplies, travel expenses (to get to and from your rental), and your home office (based on the size of the room in your home that is used solely for your rental property business). Any advertising and home improvement you have done can also be deductible.

Any of the above costs that you attempt to claim as deductions must be for things that are only used in your vacation rental home. Tools that are used once in your rental then take up permanent residence at your primary home are not deductible. The same goes for things in your first home. Many of those things can be deductible on a “per usage” basis. For example, if you have a computer at home that you use only for listing and booking your rental, then it can be fully deducted. However, if it is only used half of the time for business and the other half for pleasure, you can only claim 50% of that expense. The same goes for cameras, cell phones, and anything else that have multiple purposes.

Don’t miss out on the federal income tax deductions available to vacation rental owners.

September 21st, 2008 Posted by admin | Uncategorized | no comments

Salt Lake Vacation Rentals: Interesting Liquor Laws

Image via Wikipedia

If you are taking a trip into a Salt Lake vacation rentals area, the first thing that you need to understand is that Salt Lake City, Utah is home-base for the LDS Mormon Church. Travelers will notice cultural influences from this church group throughout their stay in the Salt Lake vacation rentals area. The Mormon religion expects its members to dress nicely, and to be very family oriented in all of their dealings. This should be good news for families traveling into any Salt Lake vacation rentals areas; SLC a child friendly city.

But not everything about the Salt Lake vacation rentals area is devoted to the Mormon religion. The local government has about 90% Mormon influence, but there are other people living in the Salt Lake City area. What this means is that this city has stringent drinking and smoking laws in place to govern over these non-Mormon activities. The tourists who flocked into the Salt Lake vacation rentals area to view the 2002 Olympics games were not exposed to the laws as they are actually written.

These Salt Lake vacation rentals and tourist area liquor laws are confusing.

If a tourist would like to have a drink, the State regulates the exact amount of alcohol that will go into the shot glass: 1.5 ounces. If the drinker would like a drink that has a little more kick in it, he may order another shot glass of alcohol to go into the glass. The catch: the drinker may not order the same kind of alcohol that is already in the glass. If you have rum in your ordered mixed drink, you are only allowed to buy a shot of tequila, vodka, or gin etc. – not another shot of rum for your drink.

If a tourist visiting a Salt Lake vacation rentals area would like to order 2 shots of rum to sit side-by-side on his table, he may do that. This same tourist may also order a glass of cola to sit on the table beside his two shots of rum. The tourist can not order a rum based mixed drink and have it sit on the same table beside another shot of rum.

If a tourist visiting a Salt Lake vacation rentals area would like to buy some fruit flavored wine coolers to sip beside the hot tub, you will need to go find them in a State run liquor store. The Mormons believe that their children should not be exposed to any fun looking bottles that have pictures of fruit coupled with an alcohol content. Alcohol content in both wine coolers and beer is less than in all other states. Utah only allows beer to have 3.2% alcohol in it.

As tourists will notice if they choose to visit the Salt Lake vacation rentals nightlife scene, these crazy alcohol laws somehow seem to work backwards from what was intended by the Mormon law makers. People do drink too many beers. People do mix various kinds of stronger alcohol into one glass. People do give up trying to figure out what they’re allowed to drink, and turn to drinking straight shots.

Tourists who are planning on visiting the Salt Lake vacation rentals area who enjoy seeing a different style of nightlife will probably enjoy Salt Lake City very much. This is a city that caters to family-style good morals by day and one that gets a bit wild after dark. While in the Salt Lake vacation rentals area, never attempt to drive after you have been drinking; call one of the taxi-cabs, or find a completely sober driver for the ride home. Drinking laws in Utah include very stiff fines for those found drinking and driving.

July 21st, 2008 Posted by Catherine | Uncategorized | no comments