its tax season--you gun purchase deductable?

[Devilfrog]

Since getting laid off from my degree job, I got a job doing armed security. So this year I will be writing off my pistol (purchased for the job), holster and other gear, and of course the training ammo I will be using to keep up my skills. Also will throw in the training courses I'll be taking this year and costs of licenses and other fees. It's probably the only bright side of the situation because with the pay cut I'll need every write off I can get!

 

[Big Boomer]

Yup, sure did!

My tax guy, allowed my carry firearms to be deducted as "security equipment" as I not only home office but travel extensively for work. It is not required or even recommended for work but neither is the fire extinguisher in the trunk or the leatherman that I use everyday.

The point is these are "non-reimbursable" business expenses just as you can write of meals and entertainment as well you get a 50% deduction for these.

You have to take the itemized so you best have well over $5000 in deductions or if married like $7500 whatever the personal allowance is.

I got back a measly $9400 and I don't have any kids

Unfortunately NONE of this is going towards any gun purchase. The majority is going in the bank till the times look a little brighter. The other is earmarked for some new crowns, medical bills, and to pay off the A/C that was damaged on the car.

I have yet to buy a new gun this year. The only one I am looking for is that new Colt Delta Elite but I have not heard anything about it in a year so I assume it's most likely not to happen.

I guess I'll just have to wait...

 

[louie19]

This never occurred to me. I'd like it to be deductible, but I'm not sure. I did find this old thread home defense gun tax deduction and an old article Are Security Costs Deductible?

 

[ridata]

I'm working on getting them dependent status.

 

[Zoogster]

I personally do NOT deduct firearms-related expenses for tax purposes, as I want to retain the right to move my firearms, ammunition and components into and out of my business operations without having to account for them, and I do not want to have to differentiate as among my firearms and other activities for tax purposes. If it's business income, it gets picked up and reported under the business activity code for that particular business which represents the vast majority of my business activity and business income.

Excellent point.
Property you write off as a tax deduction must be accounted for if the government wants to look into them later.
By writing any firearms off even under legitimate circumstances be aware you are agreeing to thier future inspection.

Additionaly if you write property off as a business expense that property is tied to the business. It becomes a business asset.
If you ever lose that business or file for some forms of bankruptcy be aware you may need to liquidate business property, including those firearms. Essentialy they are no longer purely your firearms and are legaly tied to the business. You must account for business assets in a long list of legal proceedings that a business could be involved in.

So you are both signing up with the federal government to present your firearms on request and turning them into a business asset no longer purely your property to write them off. Is it really worth that?

 

[Guns and more]

Just remember, if you deduct your guns, when you sell them, you have to recapture the deduction.

 

[rshackleford]

Just remember, if you deduct your guns, when you sell them, you have to recapture the deduction.

if you claim the income (of course it would be illegal to not claim income even if it happened to be in the form of unrecorded cash).

all the better reason never to sell any guns.

also most of us worry about the taxes we need to pay today and not the ones we need to pay tomorrow.

 

[pith43]

how about varmit control as a farmer or rancher?

I can deduct a certain amount every year for coyote control, including the cost of having the USDA fly my land every year. They usually shoot between 25 and 30 coyotes from a plane every spring, right before calving season (talk about a cool job ).