6 Bizarre Tax Write Off Attempts
Posted on March 23, 2011
In the annals of Tax filings, a myriad of different strange deductions have certainly passed through the offices of the Internal Revenue Service. According to a list provided to CBS News from a published report on April Fool’s day 2010, here are 6 of them in no particular order…
Ostrich Depreciation – Surely it is up there with inventory depreciation of equipment and property, right? Apparently bizarre as it sounds livestock can be depreciated for their value if they are being used for breeding versus for producing food. So much for those Ostrich eggs, right?
Free Beer – Who’s throwing that party? It’s true and it stood up. A business owner listed the alcohol as part of a giveaway and although strange counted as a legitimate business expense. Where’s that business, again?
Navajo Healing Ceremonies – Maybe someone was trying to really alleviate the pain of tax time. Or maybe possibly ward of the fear of an Audit? Although strange as it may sound the Healing Ceremony was deemed tax deductible because it fit the criteria of “it was prescribed for a medical purpose or to alleviate a condition”.
Fallout Shelter – Apparently during the arms race of the 1980s, a man attempted and failed to claim his Shelter as a tax write off in terms of a “preventive medicine expense”. You have to wonder if he would have been successful had he chose to list it as a home improvement instead.
Cat Food – Meow Mix as a tax write off? Believe it. A couple owning a junkyard claimed that the cat food given to cats that warded off unwanted snakes and rodents as a business sustaining business expense and while it was challenged their write off was upheld and deemed a necessary deduction.
Breast Implants – Must you increase your bust as a deduction? Believe it or not, the implants of “Chesty Love” satisfied the IRS’s requirements for business expenses to be “ordinary and necessary” for someone’s profession. Strange but very true.