TAXES

[seasquirrel]

Anyone know if i can claim deductions for my residence, camp and boat that is slipped all summer? Boat is 27 feet has full head, fridge,oven and microwave and shore power.Are you limited to one so called "summer home"? Thanks for any help

[spoonfed-1]

I don't beleive you can claim those expenses incured to keep or maintain the boat unless you are using it for a business.

Thats what I was told buy my tax guy a few years ago anyway.

Also couldn't claim any expenses incured fishing the proams as an amature fishermen

because they for entertainment.

Just the winnings over $600.00 I had to claim

Glen

[ray koziatek]

Intrest on the loan of qualifying boats ,campers,cottages can be a deduction of a 2nd morgage,,,,,,,,,,now if your a charter ya got a few more "tool" deductions ...as always seek the advice of a specialest in this area , I have been self employed for 25 years and work closely with my accountant at tax time ..I am 99.9999999% (never say 100%) shure of the """""""" intrest"""""" on 2 nd house,boat,camper that qualify is deductable in ny.

[seasquirrel]

Thanks guys. I will have my taxes done professionally this year

[rail bird]

Glen,

Were you told you could not deduct things like entry fees, dockage, and gas against your winnings?

Take this as an example

You fish one tournament.

Your entry fee is $200

You pay $100 for a dock.

You use $100 worth of gas.

You win $1000.

You would have to pay tax on $1000 minus $400 in expenses which would equal to $600 in this basic example.

You could not go over the $1000 in expenses and deduct that against regular income.

You might be able to deduct boat and fishing equipment expenses but you would have to keep very detailed records as to how many days a year you used that equipment for fun and how many days for money. It would be a percentage basis. If you tourny fished 20% of the time then you might be able to deduct 20% of your gear expendatures but there are also other tax rules that come into play. You can never claim more of a deduction than you win if it is a hobby.

The above is to the best of my understanding not being a CPA.

I don't beleive you can claim those expenses incured to keep or maintain the boat unless you are using it for a business.

Thats what I was told buy my tax guy a few years ago anyway.

Also couldn't claim any expenses incured fishing the proams as an amature fishermen

because they for entertainment.

Just the winnings over $600.00 I had to claim

Glen

[spoonfed-1]

"Were you told you could not deduct things like entry fees, dockage, and gas against your winnings?"

That is correct.

I was told they are entertainment expendetures and could not claim them. After being told that, I double checked with the accountant at work and was told the same thing. It's like if you go to a casino in Vegas and win a few bucks. You get to pay taxes on your winnings but the cost of the flight and Hotel fees and stuff like that your on your own.

Glen

[rail bird]

Thanks for the Info Glen, I am going to look into it some more. I can understand the transportation and lodging issue but I am going to look into the entry fees. In gambling you only pay tax of your winning against your losses provided that you can prove what your losses were.

[spoonfed-1]

OK Greg,

Let me know what you find out.

[rail bird]

After digging around this is what I found out about Taxes on fishing tournament winnings.

Disclaimer, I am not a CPA or a tax preparer so this is only opinion that you can confirm by asking the IRS or your consultants.

These are the rules as understand them pertaining to Tournament winnings when you fish as a hobby. Under certain circumstances you can claim expenses against your winnings but only up to the amount you won that year. So if you won $3000 And you had expenses of over $3000 you would not have to pay tax on your winnings. ( Well Maybe). There are two main issues that come up in order for you to claim expenses.

1) You have to itemize deductions, If you don't do that now and only won a little money chances are it will not be in you favor to change to an itemized return.

2) Your expenses are limited to the amount over 2% of you Adjusted gross income (AGI) but can not be more than your winnings in a given year. This is a little hard to deal with without an example, a good tax software can help a lot with figuring this part out. In a basic example your AGI is $50,000, 2% of that is $1000, You win $3000 and have expenses of over $3000 but you can only use $2000 against the $3000 so you end up paying tax on $1000 instead of $3000. Still better than paying on the whole amount.

What expenses can you use? Good question, A lot of that would be the same as if you were running a business. The easy things are entry fees, Bait, Gas, that are used for tournaments only. You want to go into it farther you could get into depreciation of the boat, and gear. but not without a lot of paper work to back you up if you get audited. The only real example I found on the IRS site was from a manual on how to audit people. If you go to the middle of this link you will see an example of a fishing tournament guy's expenses.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/art ... apter02_06

Don't do what this guy did and try to claim 60K against you ordinary income!

Other Publications to read on the IRS web site that pertain to Hobby loss rules

Publication 535 Page 5

Publication 529 Page 8-9

I can't say for certain but it is much easier to make a case for expenses when you are fishing a Pro Am or Scotty type of event Than a LOC or $1000 a day derby. In The Pro Am it is much more clear that your specific intent was to fish for prize money and you had reasonable expenses to take part in that activity.

Bottom line if you participate in a lot of Tournaments you can help yourself by making a folder for your fishing receipts and activities for the year. Log each time you go out and why you went out. Keep track of your gear, gas, launch, dockage, lodging etc. If you do get lucky and pull down 10 grand in winnings you got a leg to stand on to expense out some of that tax hit. If you do go to depreciate equipment you will need to know the percentage of time that it was used for tournaments vs pleasure.

I hope this helps

[spoonfed-1]

Thanks Greg.

I will sure mention this to my tax guy and see what he says.

Glen

[on the lam]

Somehow this thread got off track with the attempt to interpret tax deductions as it pertains to tourny fishing. Greys original question pertained to deducting things such as interest (loans on boats/second residence,and fee's associated with seasonal docking. If the boat is designed by the manufacturer for overnighting (head, full galley, sleeping quarters) it could be considered a second home and interest from a loan is tax deductible as well as docking fees (as per my tax guru). I was told this info on the boat is built into the boats VIN number, thus identified when submitted for tax purposes.

My guy takes the loan interest as well as the dock fees every year, no handcuffs Yet

[seasquirrel]

Thanks Pete, Yeah I just want to deduct basic dockage and loan interest as described. Tax man is getting it all figured out. I wish I could deduct all the beer expenses that it takes to keep those two dudes from Jersey well oiled so they let me in on the fishing reports.

[rustyrat]

I bought my boat with a home equity loan. Great rate and get to deduct the interest.

I don't win any money so thats not a problem for me. Glen is the one that has that issue!

RR

[on the lam]

Thanks Pete, Yeah I just want to deduct basic dockage and loan interest as described. Tax man is getting it all figured out. I wish I could deduct all the beer expenses that it takes to keep those two dudes from Jersey well oiled so they let me in on the fishing reports.