An RV is one of the best things you can own if you love being on the road all the time. At the same time, your RV doubles as your house as well because you can basically live in it while you are traveling across the country in your own mobile home. In that sense, can you have a tax write-off for your RV?
You can have tax write-offs on your RV regardless of whether it is your primary home or your secondary home. It will qualify for tax deductions as long as you meet certain requirements. And the requirements are there so that nobody can ever claim an unlivable RV as a primary or second home just to get tax deductions.
Tax deductions on your RV can actually be lifesavers especially if you were able to qualify your RV for tax write-offs because you don’t have to pay as much money for taxes. And you will know later why a tax write-off on your RV can actually help you save a lot of money especially if you had to take out a loan just to purchase that mobile home of yours.
RV Second Home Tax Deduction
It might be a dream of yours to own an RV because you want to be able to travel around the country on the road without having to pay for hotel expenses because, after all, your RV is already your own home on wheels. In that regard, you went out to buy an RV on your own while taking out a loan to pay for it. Of course, loans come with interests.
But, given the fact that an RV is basically your own mobile home, can you actually have it qualified for tax write-offs? Can you also have the interest you pay for it deducted from the usual tax that you pay?
On that account, yes, you can get your RV qualified for tax deductions or write-offs. The reason is that an RV can still be considered a home, whether it may be your primary home or your secondary home. Of course, a primary home is where you will be living permanently for an indefinite period of time, and an RV can be a primary home if you actually live your RV. On the other hand, you can qualify your RV as a secondary home if you happen to live on it for a few days every year especially when you are on a long road trip while living in your RV during your travels.
The IRS publication 936 states that:
A home includes a house, condominium, cooperative, mobile home, house trailer, boat, or similar property that has sleeping, cooking, and toilet facilities.
In relation to that, an RV does indeed qualify as a mobile home because it is basically a house on wheels. But you have to make sure that your RV meets certain requirements provided by the law because there are measures that are in place to see to it that individuals can’t get tax write-offs by listing an unlivable RV as a primary or secondary home. Your RV has to actually be livable for it to be considered qualified for tax write-offs.
Can you deduct RV interest?
Meanwhile, for you to be able to qualify for this tax deduction, the RV must also be secured by a qualified home if you have taken a loan to purchase it. So, what happens here is that the interest that you are paying for the loan on your RV can be deducted from your tax. However, it must be clear that, for you to be qualified for this tax deduction, you should have purchased your RV on a loan instead of buying it upfront with cash, or else you won’t be able to have tax write-offs for your RV.
In relation to this, you can actually save a lot of money from your taxes because you are basically deducting the interest you are paying for your RV from your taxes especially if you took out a loan to acquire the RV. This can be very useful for those who were able to obtain their loans for their RV on high interest rates as the tax deductions will be able to make up for the high interest they pay for their RV loans.
And even if you do live full time in your RV because you are traveling around the country in it or you just simply prefer to live in it while staying in a spot reserved for mobile homes, you can still qualify your RV for tax deductions because it now ends up in the first category as your RV is now considered your “house” and not just a mere mobile home that you use as a second home when you are traveling.
Can You Write Off an RV as a Business Expenses?
Now that we have discussed the fact that you can have tax write-offs for your RV when you are using it as a primary home or a secondary home, can you still have tax deductions if you are using your RV for business purposes instead of using it as a home?
While you probably won’t be able to get tax write-offs for your RV as a primary or secondary home if you are using it for business, there are still some tax deductions you can take advantage of if you are using it for your enterprise. However, you have to make sure that your RV isn’t used for personal purposes and should only be used for business use if you want to be able to have it qualified for certain tax deductions.
If you use your RV for business travel, you can have your tax deducted based on the travel expenses and the campground fees you pay for whenever you are using it for business. You. can also have business miles deducted from your tax where the deduction is 56 cents per miles driven for business purposes on the RV.
Take note that you can only claim tax deductions on your RV if you used it for business purposes and for nothing else. As such, if you are using your RV as the home base for your business, you will still be able to qualify for tax deductions for the miles you have driven the RV from one parking spot all the way to another location if doing so is for the purpose of business. However, if you merely moved it from one spot to another without using it for business purposes by doing so, you won’t be able to use those miles for tax deductions.
The key here is to make sure that you keep a good, clean, and concise record of the miles traveled for business purposes so that you will be able to get a good idea of the tax deductions you will be able to qualify for when using your RV in relation to your business.
On the other hand, things become easier for your part if you are using your RV for a rental business as nearly all of the expenses can be deducted from your tax. But you really have to make sure that the RV is used only for the purpose of renting it out because using it for personal use even for a short while will make things more difficult on your part as you won’t be able to qualify for certain tax deductions.
Can I Buy a Motorhome Through My Business?
If you are looking to buy your own motorhome or RV through your business, you will be able to do so as long as you clearly take out a business loan and not a personal or a home loan. By taking out a business loan for your RV, it will be easier for you to qualify for the loan as most lenders will only look at the pertinent numbers and documents of your business and will hardly base it on your own personal credit.
Meanwhile, taking out a business loan for your RV will probably make things messy on your part when you use it for personal purposes from time to time. That’s because it might not be able to qualify for a tax deduction on a home especially if it was purchased for your business and not for personal uses.
And when you use it for personal uses even if you bought the RV through a business loan, the taxes will again become messy because of how you won’t be able to clearly qualify it for certain tax deductions.
In that case, it might be better for you to take out a business loan for an RV when you want to use it for an RV rental service as this makes it easier on your part to qualify it for certain tax exemptions.
However, because taxes can be quite meticulous, it would be better for you to note make any assumptions regarding your taxes. It can be a good idea for you to know how you can qualify for certain exemptions and deductions on your taxes but it still is better for you to leave all of the meticulous parts to a certified public accountant instead.