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Cool Home-Office Toys You Can Write Off
Maryann, a home-based Web site administrator in Virginia, owns 11 computers: five desktop models in the formal office area, another in the basement, a laptop by her bed, another in the den, two more in the dining room and one in her purse.
“It’s a veritable showroom,” she says. Coming soon: a notebook for the sunroom.
It’s not that Maryann and her husband–who have been running the business since 1999 and who chose not to reveal their real names–have a compulsive computer-buying disorder. They want the tax deductions.
“At the end of each December, my husband and I look around and say, ‘We haven’t spent enough yet,’ ” she says. “Then we run out and buy things or do renovations. Of course, we keep detailed receipts. We save about $25,000 a year this way.”
It’s not just computers. The couple’s list of work-related write-offs has included an office massage chair, a Kindle (Amazon’s e-book reader) and even a mini refrigerator in the shape of R2-D2, the famously chirpy Star Wars droid.
Photo by dekok.
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Matt on September 30th, 2008 10:42 am
This makes no sense! Even at the highest tax bracket, you are spending $1 to get $1 in deductions which will save you only $.35 in taxes owed. I may not be great at math, but that looks a lot like a loss of $.65. Sure you have the stuff, but the stuff becomes worth a lot less the minute you bring it home (the resale value) so you really aren’t getting a deal. If you don’t need these things, don’t spend the money, pay the taxes, and you’ll end up better off. How many computers can you use at one time, anyway? Someone needs to explain some basic tax facts to these people.
Angela on September 30th, 2008 12:59 pm
I am hoping they know what they are talking about, considering they’ve owned their business as long as they have, but it doesn’t seem realistic.
I wonder if they have an accountant, because it can seem like a stretch to write off some of it. I’m surprised the IRS hasn’t screamed “AUDIT” when reading their return.
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