Originally Posted by
Wasatch Phantom
Sorry ERdude...
Okay so Tiger Woods gets to write off his G-V...
I'll use FTB ('cuz I'd like to meet the legendary FTB and buy him a beer, or three).
Suppose the best he can hold in ATL (closest pilot domicile to his residence) is MD-88B. Now let's suppose Mrs. FTB decides she wants to redecorate the house, and to pay for all this FTB bids NYC-ERB for the extra money.
In doing so he must commute. He must spend money on hotels and meals, etc. to increase his earnings. Why can't he write off those expenses? At least to the extent of the extra income?
That is, suppose for the sake of argument by bidding the ER in NYC FTB earns an extra $15K in income, and he spends $5K in expenses. Why can't he write that off?
Tiger has to (couldn't possibly lower himself to fly an airline) go to The Master's in his G-V. Presumably because it reduces his stress so he will do better in the tournament and earn more money.
I submit FTB should be able to write off his commuting expenses!
(FTB, No offense meant.)
Everything you said "why can't he?", he CAN... IF he is the actual company/entity. That is, if he owns the company and is doing the company taxes.
Employee income is not treated the same way that company/entity income is. That's it in a nutshell, all this tax discussion. If you have a business, taking the risks and having to pay costs to generate income, you can write off the entire enchilada of tax writeoffs. If you're an employee, you are very limited.
I was a little bummed that I can't write off all my full commute expenses myself... I did a sched C as "Pilot Roadkill LLC" with Delta income in there, to see what kind of difference it made, several years ago. So I'm with you in wishing I could write off more of my commute expenses... but the gov't doesn't see my employee expenses as unusual and thinks commute costs and driving to work is something every employee should have to cover.
I assume most of your comments on this are rhetorical and intended to invoke discussion of other ways of running taxes. I was surprised you couldn't see the clear advantage of sitting on your own aircraft, without hundreds of people hassling you for your autograph etc. in the airport, plane, airport. When your business success depends massively on you personally being rested and unstressed to score well, Delta/UCal etc. don't hold a candle to a personal jet. When you are a celebrity that has a serious risk of stalkers, crowds pushing crazily, etc., a personal jet is massively "safer". These are both absolutely reasonable. If I was the owner of "TigerWoods LLC" and I paid Tiger a stipend as my employee to win for me, you can be damn sure I would consider 5 star restful hotels, private limos, and private jets critical and necessary business expenses, so long as their use IN MY MIND and experience, created value for my company.
Sorry, but 75% of all this tax stuff written here seems to be communist/socialist inspired drivel with an employee mindset that is vastly different than the mindset of an employee who worked his way up to owning a company.