On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 19:57:29 GMT, felton wrote:

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 19:41:36 GMT, Joe Parsons
wrote:

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 18:16:00 GMT, Jenny MacLeod
wrote:

This is my first posting, and I'm not too savvy, so please excuse
me if I ask a stupid question. One of the guys I dock near said he
read that there are some new laws this year that make it possible
for sailors to deduct a lot of equipment from their taxes. Is this
true? Where can I find out more about this? That would be great,
since I purchased my first boat this year. I'm getting all of my
paperwork together in preparation for filing on the first day
possible, which, according to the TaxBrain site, is Jan. 16, just a
week away.
Yours truly,
Jenny Mac

There are several ways to get tax deductions connected with boat ownership.
Some are better (safer) than others.

If you have a loan on the boat and it has a toilet and a stove, you may be able
to declare it a "second home" and deduct the interest on the loan along with any
property taxes paid.

If you have a business where you entertain clients (a real estate agent, as John
H suggests, below), you *may* be able to claim the boat as a business
expense--at least partially. This is risky, since it may have the appearance to
the IRS of a taxpayer's trying to evade taxes by calling a "hobby" a "business
expense." It's also risky because you may be more exposed to being audited--and
an audit may uncover other questionable aspects of your tax return(s).

Finally (and this is one of my personal favorites), you can use the boat as a
charter vessel. I've owned an Olson 25 sailboat for about ten years. It is
part of a charter business in the San Francisco Bay. The company (OCSC) handles
all the chartering of the boat along with all maintenance. We split the gross
charter revenue. In return, I am able to depreciate the boat (a non-cash
expenditure) and deduct all repairs and maintenance on the boat, along with
certain items I would buy anyway. The only real downside is that the boat gets
quite a lot of use, so systems do tend to wear out faster than if I were the
only person using the boat.

For my purposes, though, it's been a great setup.

[DISCLAIMER: I am not a CPA or tax lawyer. You should consult with a licensed
professional before making any decisions that may carry tax consequences]

HTH,
Joe Parsons

Joe...as far as the charter expenses, I believe the law limits the
amount of the deductions you are allowed to the amount of income you
claim. The excess can be carried over to future years. If you are
depreciating your boat, you are likely faced with a taxable gain when
you sell it as your basis will be reduced by the amount of the
depreciation you have taken in prior years.

There's a certain amount of gray area with respect to what you are able to
claim. If you are not at all involved in the operation of the boat ("passive
owner"), then there may be certain limitations on the amount of net taxable loss
that you are able to use to offset other, income. Obviously, if you claim to
have a charter business and yet show no income, only expenses, IRS eyebrows will
go up.

The income and expense for a charter vessel is reported on Schedule C (Profit or
Loss from Business). For a business owner who files a Schedule C already and
who has taxable income, the paper losses generated by a charter vessel can be
very attractive.

You are absolutely correct about depreciation's reducing the cost basis of the
boat and leading (possibly) to a recognized gain upon sale. (The cost basis is
the acquisition cost of the asset, plus certain capitalized costs, plus
capitalized improvements, less depreciation. I may have missed one or two
items, but this is the general idea) There are a couple of ways to view this:
first, by taking advantage of depreciation (a non-cash expense), you are able to
defer taxes on today's income to some time in the future. A dollar today is
more valuable than a dollar in the future. The other aspect to this is that,
just as with real property held for investment, it is possible to effect a
tax-deferrred exchange under §1031 of the Revenue Code.

In the simplest terms, you sell the old boat that you've been using as a charter
vessel and acquire another *bigger* boat, also for charter. That exchange will
not trigger a taxable event.

Hmm. Bigger boat. How cool is THAT!

I am *still* not a CPA or tax lawyer, so no one should rely on what I've said
here for making any decisions. Consult the guys with the appropriate licenses
for the information you act on.

Joe Parsons

(The preceding post is certified to be 100% free of political content)


Having once had a boat that I allowed a charter operation to charter,
I was never so glad as the day I pulled my boat out of charter.
Hopefully the folks who charter your boat don't abuse your's the way
mine was abused. I don't believe I would ever buy a former charter
boat unless there was a heavy discount, based on my experience. In
any event, I hope things work out better for you.