"Steve B" wrote in message
...

"Goedjn" wrote in message
...
On 14 Feb 2007 19:18:20 -0800, "Shaun Eli"
wrote:

Steve, there are a lot of books written that claim you can reduce or
eliminate your tax liability, and sometimes the authors of those books
go to jail.

Simply put, a business expense is a business expense if it's genuinely
used for business. About the only way you could legitimately write
off most of your restaurant meals is if you're a food critic.

If you don't use your truck 100% for business, you can write off only
the percentage of it that's business use-- and there are, I believe, a
couple of ways to do that. But you can't simply say "Gee, since
occasionally I drive around to inspect the properties I own, my truck
is 100% deductible."


You wouldn't be allowed to deduct the whole thing in
one year, anyway. I'd have to look it up, but I'm pretty
sure that vehicals depreciate over either 5 or 7 years.


I thought so, too. But last week, when we met, the CPA asked questions
about this previous year. One was if we had purchased a business vehicle
that was over 6,000# in weight.


The weight - that's a clue. There was a stupid deduction for big trucks -
not sure if it was phased out. The law was purchased by the auto industry.
There may still be remnants of it.