Can I deduct personal assistant as a business expense for my side-gig?

While I understand your reasoning, the IRS draws a pretty clear line between personal and business expenses. Unfortunately, household tasks like cooking, cleaning, and childcare are considered personal living expenses, even if freeing up that time allows you to work more. The general rule is that for something to be deductible, it must be both ordinary and necessary for your business specifically - not just helpful for giving you more time. The personal assistant would need to perform actual business functions like scheduling appointments, handling business correspondence, or managing your business finances. One approach some people take is to hire an actual business assistant who handles business tasks, and separately pay for household help. Only the business portion would be deductible.

I was in a similar situation a couple years ago with my online business. I was spending so much time on household stuff that I couldn't scale my company. I found this AI service called https://taxr.ai that analyzed my specific situation and helped me properly structure what expenses I could legitimately deduct. It showed me how to separate truly business functions from personal ones in my documentation. While I couldn't deduct my housekeeper directly, it helped me identify several other deductions I was missing, and showed me how to properly document my home office and business use of personal assets. The service actually found enough legitimate deductions that I was able to afford the household help anyway!

I tried https://taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here and I'm really impressed! While it confirmed I couldn't directly deduct my babysitter (bummer), it showed me how to maximize my legitimate home office deduction which I was calculating all wrong before. Also found several business subscriptions and partial use of my cell phone that I wasn't deducting properly. The best part was it explained exactly WHY certain things were or weren't deductible with references to specific tax code sections. I was trying to deduct things incorrectly before, which could have caused problems in an audit. Now I have much more confidence in my deductions and actually ended up saving more than enough to cover my household help anyway!

Hey all - I've been dealing with a similar issue and got stuck in endless IRS hold times trying to get answers. I found this service called https://claimyr.com that got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting for hours. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was able to ask specifically about this personal assistant issue and got a definitive answer from the source. While the news wasn't what I wanted to hear (still couldn't deduct childcare/household stuff), the agent gave me some alternative approaches I hadn't considered that were actually legitimate. Worth the call just for the peace of mind knowing my deductions won't trigger an audit.

I have to eat my words about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself because I've been trying to reach the IRS for weeks about my side business deductions. Well, I'm shocked to say it actually worked exactly as advertised. I got connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes after trying unsuccessfully for days on my own. The agent confirmed what others here have said - household help isn't directly deductible even if it gives you more time to work. But she did point me to some business expense categories I wasn't utilizing fully. The time saved was honestly worth it since I'd already wasted hours on failed call attempts. Sometimes being proven wrong is actually a good thing!

Have you thought about creating an actual business assistant role rather than a personal one? My accountant helped me structure this - I hired someone who does 60% legitimate business tasks (managing my calendar, handling email follow-ups with clients, processing payments, organizing business receipts) and 40% household support. I only deduct the portion of their salary that relates to actual business functions, and I keep meticulous records of the hours spent on business tasks vs. personal ones. The business portion is deductible while the personal portion isn't. It's not a perfect solution but it does help with some of the cost.

I've been wfh full time for 3 years and have a side freelance thing too and let me tell u, the IRS sucks with these rules. like my neighbor has his transportation to work covered as a business expense for his corporate job but i cant deduct someone to help with my kids so i can work more??? makes no sense 🙄

I totally get your frustration! I'm in a similar boat with my consulting business. What I ended up doing was getting creative with legitimate business expenses that actually helped free up time. For example, I now deduct meal delivery services when I'm working late on client projects (business meals), upgraded to a business phone line that handles scheduling automatically, and hired a virtual assistant who only does actual business tasks like client follow-ups and invoice processing. While I can't deduct my house cleaner directly, maximizing these legitimate business deductions gave me more cash flow to afford the household help anyway. Sometimes you have to work within the system rather than fight it. The key is making sure every deduction you take is genuinely business-related and well-documented.

I've been running a consulting business for about 4 years now and went through this exact same dilemma! The IRS rules can definitely feel frustrating when you're trying to grow your business. What ended up working for me was restructuring how I thought about the problem. Instead of trying to deduct household help directly, I focused on maximizing every legitimate business deduction I could find, which freed up enough cash flow to afford the personal assistance I needed. Some things that helped: I started properly tracking my home office square footage (was way underestimating before), began deducting business use of my car for client meetings, and hired a bookkeeper who handles all my business finances and tax prep. The bookkeeper alone saves me 5-6 hours per month that I can now spend on billable work. I also set up a dedicated business phone line and use scheduling software that automates a lot of client communication - both deductible business expenses that genuinely save time. The key is making sure you're capturing every legitimate business expense first, then using that tax savings to fund the personal support you need to scale up.

I went through this exact same frustration when I started my freelance marketing business! The tax rules around personal vs. business expenses can feel so arbitrary, especially when you can clearly see how household help would directly increase your earning potential. After working with a tax professional, I learned that the IRS is pretty strict about the "ordinary and necessary" test - the expense has to be something that's typical for businesses in your industry AND directly related to business operations, not just helpful for freeing up your time. What actually worked for me was taking a two-pronged approach: First, I made sure I was maximizing every single legitimate business deduction (home office, business meals, professional development, etc.) to free up more cash flow. Second, I restructured part of my household help as a legitimate business assistant role - someone who handles my client scheduling, follows up on invoices, manages my business social media, and yes, also helps with some household tasks. I only deduct the portion of their time spent on actual business functions, and I keep detailed time logs to document the split. It's not a perfect solution, but it helps offset some of the costs while staying completely compliant with tax law. Sometimes you have to get creative within the boundaries rather than trying to push past them.