biking and taxes
Thread started by
nancine at 03.6.09 - 10:54 am
So if rich, old business men can deduct golf and tennis as a networking expense, can I deduct cycling?
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ur new high end roadie as a tax write off?
can anyone confirm this?
KiMS103.6.09 - 10:58 am
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I know messengers that deduct their tires, tubes...all expendables.
isn't there supposed to be a bike credit coming soon for folks that commute to work on bike?
Eric Hair03.6.09 - 11:03 am
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Not something just for riding or owning a bike, but if you use it to commute, you can get $20 a month from your employer. A stimulus bill passed late last year includes a new $20 monthly credit for bike commuters that employers have to pay for. It's can be spent on maintaining, repairing or buying bicycles. Employers will establish how they administer the cycling tax credit. Employers will be able to deduct the credit from their corporate taxes.
Damn, glad you reminded me. Time to make the boss pay up!!
Artile at SF Gate
0gravity03.6.09 - 11:05 am
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FYI
in minneapolis,
if ur bike is registered, you get like 5 free taxi rides a year.
like, if ur way far from home and u get a flat or if ur just plain tired, you can get a free ride back home.
its pretty sweet.
KiMS103.6.09 - 11:15 am
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That's rad. The bike route/path infrastructure in Minneapolis is amazing.
Eric Hair03.6.09 - 11:17 am
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its like a bike freeway system over there.
so much fun zipping around between mpls and st paul.
and the bike shops!!!
its so sick when u go there during winter and all their summer gear is half off!!!
KiMS103.6.09 - 11:20 am
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you can seriously write off any shit you want.
just try it. any "business expense" you can think of, if done correctly will magically come off of your gross earnings.
however, in the event of an audit, you should understand the applicable law and have your story together with proof that your social biking, or whatever expense, somehow contributed to your earnings and is therefore an "expense of doing business".
Here is a list of writeoffs.
After a quick look, I'm mot seeing anything on this list that would allow somebody to write of country club expenses because they do deals there. If you find a concrete example of this type of write off then you can try and figure how your social biking expenses fit in.
Since rides are pretty much free, and the actual depreciation of a bike that takes place in 20-25 miles is pretty minor, i don't see this adding up to a significant amount of money.
Good luck trying to write off the beer and weed you shared with a friend you met on a ride, then hooked you up with a job at costco.
trickmilla03.6.09 - 12:19 pm
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0gravity wrote:
A stimulus bill passed late last year includes a new $20 monthly credit for bike commuters that employers have to pay for.
Employers don't have to pay the benefit. They can choose to pay the benefit, and if they so choose, they can deduct it from their taxes. The author of the SF Gate article either didn't understand this, or didn't know how to make it clear.
PC03.6.09 - 1:58 pm
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I Write off my tires, tubes...all expendables too...
I also write off all my bus / train fare to and from work on days i don't ride in
TheRaquel03.6.09 - 1:59 pm
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So it's not mandatory of all companies if bike commuting employees ask for it? So it's only if the company wants to bother with it? I could see a lot of CFOs or their equivalents at most companies just deciding they would rather not deal with such a small line-item tax break.
0gravity03.6.09 - 2:02 pm
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Correct, it's only if they want to bother with it.
PC03.6.09 - 2:04 pm
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Be careful, the way the law is written right now you can't get the bike tax exemption and the transit tax exemption at the same time. We're working on it.
daymen03.6.09 - 2:41 pm
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