Opening your pay slip and seeing how much you’ve been taxed is never an enjoyable experience, but if you’re smart you can claim some of that back.
Check out some of the more funny and weird tax deductions that we found out people have had approved below. Trust us, it’ll make you realize what you could be owed from the taxman.
Body Oil
The IRS was smart enough to recognise that for a professional body builder his/her body oil is an essential tool in that field of work. And when competing in IFBB championship matches, professional body builders know that applying the body oil is a necessity and courts ruled it as an expense. The oil used in competitions is acknowledged as a legitimate business expense.
Cat Food
One junkyard owner found that the rats and snakes in his grounds where putting off his customers who were looking around for parts. After a stroke of genius, the junkyard owner started to lay down bowls of cat food to attract the natural predators to his yard. After a while, he found that the presence of the cats warned off the rats and other vermin and his junkyard was clean & more appealing. As the cat food served a purpose to the business, the IRS accepted the deduction claim.
Swimming Pool
If a doctor tells you that swimming will help your physiotherapy, most people will grab their trunks or swimming costume and head to the local pool. Not this patient suffering from osteoarthritis, who decided to have a laps pool built in his home with purpose designed steps. As it was for health reasons to assist with his physiotherapy the IRS approved the deduction.
Breast Implants
Stripper, Cynthia “Chesty Love” Hess made her name not from her great abilities on the stage but from her tax deductions. To boost her appeal, Hess underwent a series of surgeries to take her breast size up to a staggering 56FF. As soon as she returned to work from her plastic surgery, her breasts (weighing 10lbs each) were such a huge hit that she saw her tips double. After the IRS saw that her implants were positively affecting her business, they agreed that they were a business expense. But when one of her implants exploded the surgery to replace it was also accepted as a legitimate business expense too.
Nearly Got Away With It – Arson
The failing furniture business of one gentleman was just too much to take, so he hired the help of someone to burn down the store to the ground. The shop owner received the sum of $500,000 in insurance money. Had he not made the rookie mistake in claiming $10,000 for ‘consulting services’ which, oddly enough was the same amount he paid the arsonist, the former shop owner would have got away with it. The IRS audited him and fined him $6,000 and he and the arsonist were sent to jail for insurance fraud.
Photo by The Lucky Neko on Unsplash