Is your lease a lease? Are you sure? There are lots of funny rules that make what looks like a lease, a purchase—and what looks like a conditional sales agreement, a lease. This article shows you what happened to Arthur Boyce and gives you a number of tips to help you avoid his plight.

This article has 16 tax-deduction targets that you can use to increase your business car, SUV, truck, and van deductions. You don’t need to buy any new vehicles to get the benefits. You simply need the knowledge as laid out here.

Okay, it’s December and you have some last-minute tax planning to take care of. This article helps you identify big last-minute tax deductions for bonus depreciation and Section 179 expensing on business cars, trucks, vans, and motor homes, including those you already own and may or may not use for business.

The chassis of an SUV, truck, or van does not define its status for tax purposes. In other words, the truck chassis does not make that SUV a truck. Similarly, the car chassis does not make that SUV a car. If you want to use Section 179 expensing on your SUV, you need to know what makes the SUV a truck or a car.

Tax law requires your attention to enable tax deductions on your business vehicles. Your tax write-off results differ with certain aspects: vehicle type (car, van, pickup truck, crossover vehicle), new or used, use of Section 179 expensing, and bonus depreciation. This article guides you through the deductions so you can select what gives you the best write-offs.

Learn the basics of the two-car tax-deduction strategy and then, best of all, use the magic formula calculator to see if you increase or decrease your tax deductions with this strategy.

The IRS mileage rate can produce misleading results. Often the new person in business wrongfully thinks that the IRS standard mileage rate overcomes the need for a mileage log. This article contains a magic calculator and gives you the ins and outs of what you need to know to ensure that you are picking the best after-tax cash result for your business vehicle.

When the two-car tax-deduction strategy works for you, you find new deductions without spending a penny or driving a mile farther. In this article, you find that both the IRS and the courts approve of your two-car tax deductions.

The new 100 percent bonus depreciation enables new tax planning strategies, as it applies to both the carryover and boot basis on a trade-in or other Section 1031 exchange.

How often do you say, “Thank goodness for the IRS?” Well, you are going to say that when you see how the IRS saves the bacon when you claim the recently enacted 100 percent bonus depreciation on your business car.

You have at least three parties in your divorce: you, your soon-to-be ex, and your Uncle Sam. Yes, as with almost everything, there are tax consequences to a divorce. This article puts you on a path that will help you protect your money and your assets.

Tax law limits depreciation deductions on cars, trucks, and vans that don’t qualify for Section 179 expensing. The IRS updates the limits each year for inflation. This article explains how the limits work and gives you a link to the 2011 revenue procedure that contains all limits for both purchased and leased cars, trucks, and vans.

The new tax law contains some real surprises when it comes to deducting vehicles. In some cases, you can deduct the full cost in the year you place the vehicle in service. In other cases, the luxury auto limits might stretch your depreciation deductions over 30 or more years.

You can amend your Section 179 deduction. However, when you chose IRS mileage rates, tax law grants you no Section 179 deduction and no ability to amend your tax return to claim it. You can recover many of those missed deductions by switching to the actual expense method as described in this article.

This issue contains 21 last-minute tax tips that you can use for 2010. We’ve broken the tips into two articles: one for vehicles and one not related to vehicles. This article contains the tips that apply to vehicles.

The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 spends $12 billion on small businesses, hoping to add a little stimulus to this economy. Make sure you are getting your fair share of this stimulation.

Special documentation rules apply to entertainment and vehicles. One rule requires you to document your entertainment and vehicle use within one week of the activity. Another rule says you don’t need receipts if the expenditure is less than $75—but you still carry the burden of proof.

Follow these three easy steps to an IRS audit-proof exchange of your SUV for a car.

Your claim to Section 179 expensing comes with strings. You make a deal with the government to keep your business use above 50 percent during the depreciation periods for the assets that you expensed. Should you violate your agreement, the government shows up to recapture Section 179 expensing.

The sale or trade-in of a business vehicle has positive or negative tax ramifications. You have a choice in this matter. But first you need to know your gain or loss. This article gives you the six steps to finding your gain or loss.

The Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange is perfect for many of today’s business vehicles that have big gains embedded in them from prior use of Section 179 expensing and/or bonus depreciation.

Here are your only two tax-saving choices when you operate your business as a corporation but personally own the car you use for business.

The trade-in of your old business car on a replacement car creates additional basis. The subsequent trade-in can also increase basis. This process can create a big tax deduction if you know what to do.

Renting equipment to your corporation requires knowledge of the tax laws. Three special rules apply to the individual taxpayer who rents equipment to others.

Poor planning for the S corporation owner’s business expenses can cost the owner every penny of his deductions.

Luxury limits on passenger automobiles and light trucks and vans produce planning benefits at the back end. If you want to beat the luxury limits, you have to buy a vehicle that’s exempt from the luxury limits.

Should you or your corporation be unlucky enough to face an IRS audit, there is one record that stands out as critical to your audit health. If you are missing this one record, the IRS audit can quickly expand to other areas of your tax return.

Would Section 179 expensing make the IRS rates a bad deal for you? How about leasing or the luxury limits? Know for sure when you use the analyzer that comes with this article.

IRS mileage rates contain a depreciation surprise for many taxpayers. The depreciation might be hiding cash that can be yours with a simple strategy.

You need to know, and avoid, the five tax problems you can encounter when you gift business property to your parents, children, or others.

The no-receipt-under-$75 tax rule applies only to certain travel, entertainment and listed property.

This article shows you how to apply the transient rule to use of a motor home for business purposes. By passing the transient test, your motor home can qualify for Section 179 expensing to the extent of business use.

Wow! This new IRS private ruling expands the number and types of like-kind vehicles available for Section 1031 exchanges.

You need a mileage log on your business vehicle. With no mileage log, you can try the alternate-proof method, but the odds are better than 9 to 1 that you will lose. This article gives you a perfect mileage-log system free.

The woman in this audit learned how knowledge can turn what appears as a nightmare (an IRS audit) into a positive happening—meaning cash refunds for the year of the audit and subsequent years. As the old sayings goes, “knowledge is power.”

Learn how to calculate the tax deduction when you sell your business car at a loss—the most likely result.

Learn the federal income tax rules on business mileage to increase vehicle deductions. The four questions and answers in this article give you a clear roadmap of the rules along with the strategies you need to pocket more cash from your business.

Show me the proof that I can have an office in my home when I have an office downtown! Have you ever wanted that proof? This article gives you the law, legislative history, and IRS authorization for the office in the home deduction.

This article empathically answers the “show me where it says that you can use three cars for business” question.

You may not claim a home office deduction when you rent your home office to your S corporation employer. Therefore, redo this arrangement by taking advantage of your employee status.

You do not need a tax deductible office in your home to deduct the cost of business furniture and equipment in your home

The official name of the new stimulus is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Like last year’s version, the 2009 stimulus contains three big deals for business: (1) fifty percent bonus depreciation; (2) Section 179 expensing of up to $250,000; and (3) an increase in first-year luxury car depreciation on new (not used) cars.

The tax-favored like-kind rules for personal property such as cars contain a number of twists. For example, trading a car for an SUV, a crossover vehicle, or another car qualifies as a like-kind trade. But the trade of a car for a pickup truck is not like-kind.

The very first thing you need to do once you make the decision to buy the new asset and replace the old asset is to calculate your taxable gain or deductible loss on the old asset (as if you were going to sell it right now). The result—gain or loss—determines the strategy you should follow.

When you claim a Section 179 expensing deduction, you make a deal with the government. You agree to give back your early tax benefits if, during the recapture period, your business use drops to 50 percent or less.

Your maximum write off on a new $14,000 car purchased in 2008 is $10,960. To get to this number, you need to use Section 179 expensing. Should you have personal use of the car, then you reduce your $10,960 limit by your personal use.

The law gives you no choice but to keep the proper tax records on a timely basis. This is pretty easy when you know what to do. One easy rule to follow is to never commingle your activities in your bank accounts. Both the rule that requires a mileage log and the rule that requires a time log are more difficult, but absolutely essential to proving your deductions.

As the end of the year arrives, you still have time to pocket some tax money. The 20 strategies in this article have a wide range, from getting married to selling your old vehicle. Spend a few minutes and pick up some last minute tips.

The section 179 deduction can allow a write-off of up to $250,000 on a Toyota Tundra truck. The big write offs are easy to lose if the truck is not kept and used correctly and for the appropriate amount of time.

The IRS has issued the 2009 standard mileage rates that self-employed taxpayers and employees may use for deductions in the use of business cars, vans, pickups, and panel trucks.

Take advantage of the government stimulus package in 2008. You need to buy and place in service a business vehicle, business equipment, or a business-related building before the end of the year. Generate fifty percent bonus depreciation, up to $250,000 Section 179 expensing, or an $8,000 increase in first-year luxury car depreciation.

Learn about Gary Larson’s legal fight to deduct his business gas mileage. His logs ended up satisfying the court, but you can do better to avoid what he went through – by keeping good records! Also, take a look at Tax Diary System. This training tutorial gives excellent tax record-keeping tips, whether or not you use this system.

Buying the vehicle you lease destroys any opportunity to claim Section 179 expensing.

In court, David Choe succeeded proving that his laptop was business use, but a bad mileage log took away all his automobile deductions. Ouch! Learn how to avoid this egregious error.

Gone are the days of estimating deductions for expenses. Today, you need better tax records than ever. We give you a chart to help you avoid common mistakes, and to see what you need and why you need it.

Are you turning in a leased vehicle? For the business use of the vehicle, you can deduct excess mileage charge and the early termination fees.

Learn from Michael Birdsill’s mistakes: keep good records of your business vehicle use, and report it on your taxes. Birdsill’s court case proves that you must do this to receive deductions for mileage. Follow our four rules for claiming Section 179 expensing to make sure you do it right.

Lawmakers finally let the IRS deal with deducting charitable mileage! The IRS annually updates its deduction rates for mileage, but lawmakers haven’t updated their charitable mileage rate since 1997. Read how a new law applies the IRS rates for charitable mileage, and how this affects you.

When using tax preparation software, be alert to automatic calculations that could place improper amounts on your tax returns.

Most of the business property that you will expense and depreciate in this year’s tax return is MACRS (modified accelerated cost recovery system) property. When you convert this property to personal use, you need to know four rules to avoid recapture problems.

Pay attention to the rules on what makes a business mile and what makes a personal mile so that you can achieve the best possible vehicle deductions.

The new IRS mileage rates give you an extra $1.60 per gallon. Does this mean that gas prices will go higher? Also, don’t forget to log your mileage correctly to get those deductions.

The IRS standard mileage rates might save you more money in lieu of actual expenses. Note, though, that there are important details regarding who qualifies, what the mileage rate includes. Also, there are a number of common pitfalls to avoid.

The trade of a vehicle on a lease is not a like-kind exchange. It is more like a cash sale, which has its benefits. You can get big deductions if you do it right.

You can avoid recapture with a Section 1031 deferred exchange or a delayed exchange. You can also make your Section 1031 deferred exchange strategy forever, making your deductions permanent.

If you sell an asset, you should know the details about depreciation and Section 179 expensing. You can sell or trade, and choose if you want an intermediary. The result: you could save a lot of money.

Learn from one couple’s court case: keep good records! It’s easy, but important. Follow our strategy to make sure you don’t miss a critical element.

There is no such thing as zero interest for tax purposes.

This could be the perfect year to buy that rental property or building for your office. The new 50 percent bonus depreciation, new $250,000 expensing limit, and new higher luxury limit make 2008 the year to seriously consider making business purchases.

You can take advantage of Section 179 expensing to put money in your pocket! By working the tax law, you can arrange your business assets to decrease your self-employment tax and save money.

Don’t blow your deduction – use your vehicle more than 50% for business. If you don’t, you must recapture Section 179 deductions and recapture MACRS deductions. Aim gun, shoot foot.

When a business vehicle is given away as a personal gift, it is subject to recapture on any expensing or depreciation deductions in excess of straight-line depreciation.

When you claim Section 179 expensing or MACRS depreciation, you make a contract with the government. When you quit your business, you probably violate the terms of your tax-law contract and, thereby, trigger recaptures taxes.

Compare IRS rates with actual expenses to find what’s best for you. Should you choose IRS mileage rates, keep this one key point in mind: when you sell, you have gain or loss to consider. You might save thousands and thousands by knowing this one simple rule.

Robert Walters’ auto deductions sank from $10,878 to $966 because of poor record keeping. Do the best thing you can do for yourself. Keep a good mileage log next to your appointments. This can be easy, and it will save your bacon if you get audited.

You have very little time left to impact your 2007 taxes. Here is a meat-and-potatoes list of last-minute opportunities.

Getting your numbers on the right tax forms is critical to properly filing your tax return and claiming your money. This means that you need to pick a preparer who knows what he or she is doing, and you need to know enough yourself to know that your preparer is right.

Again, Colvin fails to provide sufficient evidence for his deductions. This time, it’s a $6,000 auto deduction, for which he was denied all but $780.

If your SUV qualifies as a truck, you can write off up to $25,000. What qualifies as a truck, however, is very specific. It must pass the weight test, be a legal gas-guzzler. The bed size is important, too.

The $25,000 SUV expensing might disappear in 2008. We won’t speculate on what might happen next year, but the current rules still apply until the end of 2007.

The government penalizes you if you drive a luxury vehicle. Further, the government’s idea of luxury and the reality do not match.

Save yourself time and trouble. Reimburse employees for actual expenses. Forget those two troublemakers: per diems and allowances.

The government penalizes you if you drive a luxury vehicle. Further, the government’s idea of luxury and the reality do not match.

Save yourself time and trouble. Reimburse employees for actual expenses. Forget those two troublemakers: per diems and allowances.

4% of Americans are audited each year. Do you know what two line-item expenses are most vulnerable to a Schedule C audit? Take our quiz and find out!

We help one business owner plan her vehicle purchases. She uses her husband’s car on occasion, and wants to purchase a new SUV for her business. We give information both on the larger-scale, and specific to her case.

Yung Chong worked a full-time regular job, and had a Section C side business. His records, while present were not enough to satisfy the court, which disallowed all of his nearly $10,000 in deductions for his side business. This case makes it clear: even if you have some records, if you do not have all the required records, you get no deductions.

For employees under the Section 105 Medical Plan, the law authorizes a medical deduction for transportation to receive medical care. You may reimburse any medical expense that you could otherwise deduct on your Form 1040.

To calculate the deductions for a business vehicle when you sell it, you must divide the car into business and personal parts, find your adjusted basis for business purposes, and find your loss deduction.

If you personally own the vehicle that your corporation uses, the IRS authorizes the reimbursement of the vehicle expenses. To make this work, you must submit an expense report and mileage log to your corporation.

William Lenihan, a well-educated tax lawyer, lost every deduction he claimed on both his Schedule C consulting business and his Schedule E rental businesses because he did not keep good records. Know the law! Keep good records!

The law contains no reasonableness test for mileage. There are very specific rules for recording mileage. We recommend that you keep a mileage log for three consecutive months to prove your business-mile percentage.

There are very specific regulations regarding what qualifies as an SUV for the $25,000 expensing. Does a Subaru Outback qualify?

These tried and true last minute tax-saving tips generally apply every tax year.

Section 274 is merciless. You need a mileage log and the required elements that prove your overnight stays. Having your CPA prepare these records after the fact fails.

As an individual (not as a corporation), you may use IRS mileage rates in lieu of actual expenses to deduct vehicles you own or lease. The IRS rate has two components: one for operating expenses and the other for depreciation.

You may amend your tax return for missed Section 179 expensing on a unibody SUV. The truck chassis is not required for an SUV to qualify as a truck for purposes of the SUV deduction.

You may Section 179 expense up to $25,000 of your business cost when you buy a more than 6,000 pound gross vehicle weight rated (GVWR) new or used crossover vehicle or SUV built not on a truck chassis, but on a unibody frame in a manner that qualifies the vehicle as a truck for purposes of the gas guzzler tax.

You need a tax plan for the sale or trade-in of the business vehicle you are driving today. You also need a tax plan for the business vehicle that will replace your current business vehicle. You need this tax plan if you use IRS mileage rates, actual expenses, Section 179 expensing, MACRS depreciation, or bonus depreciation.

Advertising your business on your vehicle does not change either your business or personal use of the car.

Good tax planning for a trip to the medical doctor includes making a properly-targeted business stop the primary purpose of the trip.

The SUV is like-kind property to the hybrid car. Thus, you can trade or use an intermediary to complete a Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange of an SUV for a hybrid car.

You apply the new trade-in adjustment rule to find your new depreciable basis. When you have the combination of an expensed asset and an upside down loan balance, you can generally ignore your personal use and follow the cash outlay to your new basis.

Your business motor home is either a lodging facility, like a hotel, or a transportation vehicle. Regardless of classification as a vehicle or hotel, your motor home probably qualifies for Section 179 expensing. Also, regardless of classification as a vehicle or hotel, you should keep at least a 90-day log of use to prove your business percent of use.

Tax law continues to favor the heavy SUV over the typical passenger automobile. The heavy SUV qualifies for additional first-year expensing of up to $25,000 and it’s exempt from the gas guzzler tax.

Bad records can cost you just about every tax deduction. You can testify as to your deductions, but without the records that turns out worthless. When it comes to your taxes, paper talks.

Not filing your tax returns on time because you lost or misplaced your tax records is going to make your tax life miserable. The trouble is so bad that you need to consider an “offer in compromise.”

This taxpayer won his deduction for going to the library located 36 miles away from his home and next to his parent’s home. The IRS lost its argument that the taxpayer should have used the library near his home rather than drive 36 miles to the library where he also could visit with his parents.

Say you are going to buy a replacement SUV that qualifies for Section 179 expensing. Should you trade your old vehicle or sell it outright? The selling outright strategy can save self-employment taxes. Many Schedule C taxpayers pocket thousands with this little-known strategy.

When you operate your business as a corporation, you need to reimburse the business use of the personal car as a reimbursed employee expense. The corporation may use either the IRS mileage method or the actual expense method for the corporate reimbursement to the employee-owner.

When you start a new business activity or you do a business activity on the side, you must establish a profit motive. One easy way to demonstrate the profit motive is to show the time you spend on the activity. This taxpayer had no proof of time worked, so he looked suspicious to the court.

The trade of a car on a lease is not a like-kind exchange. This is a sale of the old car and a lease of the new car. The sale part gives you a gain or a loss. In addition, the sale part generates a prepayment on the lease where you benefit with an amortization deduction.

The law requires the taxpayer to maintain records sufficient to establish his income and deductions. In select circumstances, estimates provide a rational basis for deductions. With respect to vehicle, entertainment, meals, travel, and gifts; estimates are out and neither the court nor the IRS may grant your deductions without the prescribed records.

You probably should hate the IRS for the mileage rate. First, the mileage rate creates the illusion that you don’t need a mileage log (wrong!). Second, individuals who start in business think that the mileage rate makes their tax life easy and that it doesn’t make much difference financially (generally, wrong). Third, mileage-rate addicts think that the mileage rate takes care of everything—then they cost themselves money by failing to deduct a loss on the sale of a business vehicle and overlook the business person’s tax deduction for interest on a car loan.

Learn the federal income tax rules on business mileage to increase vehicle deductions. The four questions and answers in this article give you a clear roadmap of the rules along with the strategies you need to pocket more cash from your business.

The auto dealer sent this customer a bogus 1099 because the customer refused to return to the dealership and redo the “no interest” loan to an interest bearing loan. The dealer made a mistake originally and then wanted the customer to help fix the problem—at the customer’s expense. The customer said, “No.” Later, when the bogus 1099 showing interest income from the no-interest loan showed up in this customer’s mailbox, the customer took this dealership problem to the IRS.

The IRS told lawmakers that a number of people were cheating on vehicle donations and that some changes in the rules could put a quick stop to that. This court case explains why lawmakers went along with the IRS and enacted the changes that are in effect today.

Under tax law, your vehicle is considered “listed property.” The IRS has a regulation that applies the $75 receipt rule to listed property.