Let’s say that I have this one movie that is finished that I spent 80 million to make. I decided to “write it off”. So when I get to pay my taxes, do I get a 80 million discount?

  • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
    22·
    11 months ago

    What I have trouble wrapping my head around is what else can you write off? How far can this go? I’m thinking of making an LLC for example to hold real estate, cars, buy stuff using its credit card. Can I do whatever I want and try to call it a company expense?

    In the case of your fence can you write off the truck, gas, computers you used to do research, house you used to plan out the project?

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
      24·
      11 months ago

      You’re supposed to include an approximate percentage of personal vs business use. Generally this isn’t really policed, but if it’s clearly 100% personal and you say it’s 100% business, that’s a disaster waiting to happen.

      Also using stuff like this while making less than a million a year is going to bump you up several notches on the “people to be audited” list.

    • Fal@yiffit.netEnglish
      21·
      11 months ago

      The answer is basically yes, until you get audited. Then you’ll have to defend it

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
      191·
      11 months ago

      Write offs are a scam because of this big gray area. The rules get complicated fast and it quickly becomes less clear whether you can or not, and they’re difficult to automatically check. So …. You can write off any expense, up until you get caught. Remember this next time you see a politician wanting to reduce funds for IRS audits.

      For all the dread people fear at the word “audit”, remember who really has the most to fear, and it’s not you

      FYI - my own experience with the dreaded IRS enforcement was …. Receiving mail that something was wrong on my tax form and if I agreed, they calculated how that would change what I owe. I took a look, and “yep, my bad”, and paid the correct amount. No fees, no penalties, minimal paperwork, no threats, no bullying. Just facts. Ooooh, nightmares

    • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
      142·
      11 months ago

      Yes write off rules get complicated fast. People generally agree with the very simple example I’ve given but all you have to do is ask “What if you bought a drill while building the fence?” and you’re gonna trigger a whole host of opinions.

      But I think sometimes people only see the complicated examples and think “write offs are a scam got it” so I think it’s important to provide an example where most people would generally agree it’s not. It helps people realize there’s some nuance to the discussion.

      That being said: Tax the fucking rich already.