I took a webinar today to learn about buying a boat as a business. I learned about tax advantages and guidelines and how we could make money with a boat in charter 20 weeks per year. Of course, there are no guarantees with this plan. And we could lose our ass instead, but it was a good thing to learn about as we determine where we are going and how we will get there.
The highlights of what I learned:
- Set up the business as an LLC. Buy the boat in the company’s name.
- As owner, make sure you work 100 hours or more and more than anyone else who works for you in the charter company. Something about hiring chartering companies seasonally will cover you. If you hire them for a year or longer, it is considered that they are “leasing” your boat and you don’t get a tax advantage. Keep a log of all hours working for the company.
- Most travel expenses to the boat could also be expensed, especially if Matt is fixing something or adding gear. Plus we can expense entertaining guests on our boat because that would be classified as a demo trip for potential charter guests…
We will file today’s activity away in LEARN IT!
In other news… Matt surprised me today. He found a Lagoon 380 Owner’s Version… good price… with all the extra equipment we would want… and so I told him he should email the broker and see about it. He said… Nah, we are still a ways from doing anything. Hmmm….. My impulse-buying, instant-gratification husband just told me we should wait?!? Wow! My how times have changed. 🙂