Can I write off a new couch for my pet sitting business?
So I run this pet sitting service out of my home and we bring in roughly $16,000-$19,000 annually. The dogs we watch have absolutely destroyed our living room couch over the past year - there's scratch marks everywhere, pee stains that won't come out, and the cushions are basically shot from all the animals jumping on and off. We're looking at getting a new sofa that's specifically designed to be more pet-resistant (like with that outdoor fabric that repels water and doesn't catch fur). Since this couch would be primarily used in the space where we watch the animals for our business, can we deduct it as a business expense on our taxes? The pets are what ruined the old one and the new one would definitely be considered "necessary" for continuing our pet sitting business in our home. Not sure if it matters, but we use the living room about 80% for the pet sitting business and 20% for personal use. Any advice would be super appreciated!
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Zara Rashid
Yes, you can potentially deduct the couch as a business expense, but there are some important things to consider. Since you're using the couch for both business and personal use, you'll need to allocate the deduction based on the percentage of business use. If you use the couch 80% for your pet sitting business and 20% for personal use, you can deduct 80% of the cost as a business expense. You'll report this on your Schedule C as either a direct expense or as part of the business use of your home calculation. Keep in mind that furniture is generally considered a depreciable asset rather than an immediate write-off, unless you use Section 179 expensing or bonus depreciation, which might allow you to deduct the full business portion in the year of purchase.
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Luca Romano
•This is really helpful, thanks! Quick question though - for the business percentage thing, do I need to track exactly how much time the couch is used for business vs personal, or is it more about the space it's in? Also, what documentation should I keep to prove this is a legit business expense?
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Zara Rashid
•You don't need to track exact hours of usage. The percentage can be based on a reasonable estimate of business versus personal use, which could be determined by the amount of time the room is used for business activities or the percentage of your home dedicated to business. For documentation, keep your receipt for the couch purchase, take photos of the damaged couch being replaced, maintain records of your pet sitting business activities in that room, and perhaps note in a business log how the space is typically used. Also document why a more durable couch is necessary for your specific business needs.
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Nia Jackson
After struggling with similar business expense questions for my home daycare, I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me figure out exactly what I could deduct. You upload pictures of your receipts and it tells you what percentage is deductible based on your business situation. It even explained how to handle furniture that gets used for both business and personal purposes.
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NebulaNova
•Does it actually connect with your tax software? I'm using TurboTax and wondering if this would save me time or just give me info I'd still have to manually enter.
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Mateo Hernandez
•Sounds interesting but can it really determine what the IRS would actually accept? I feel like these things are super subjective and I don't want to take deductions that'll get me audited.
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Nia Jackson
•It doesn't directly connect with tax software, but it gives you a detailed breakdown you can easily reference when entering information into TurboTax. It saved me tons of time figuring out what percentages to use and what categories to put things in. The tool actually references specific IRS publications and tax court cases to back up its recommendations. It's not just making guesses - it shows exactly which rules apply to your situation and explains the reasoning. This actually gave me more confidence than when I was trying to interpret the rules myself.
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NebulaNova
Just wanted to update - I tried taxr.ai after seeing this thread and it was incredibly helpful! I uploaded some pictures of my home office setup (I teach piano lessons) and it gave me super specific guidance about what percentage of my furniture I could deduct. It even caught that I was under-deducting some expenses related to my business. Definitely worth checking out if you're trying to figure out these partial business/personal deductions.
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Aisha Khan
If you need direct confirmation from the IRS about deducting that couch, good luck getting through to them on the phone! I spent 3 hours on hold last week trying to ask about business deductions. Then I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me a callback from the IRS in under 45 minutes. They have this demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - basically they navigate the phone system for you and get you in the callback queue without the wait.
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Ethan Taylor
•Wait how does this actually work? I thought the IRS phone system was just broken and nobody could get through. Do they have some special access or something?
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Yuki Ito
•This sounds like complete BS. Nobody can magically skip the IRS phone queues. They're probably just charging you to do exactly what you could do yourself by calling.
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Aisha Khan
•They don't have special access - they use technology to continuously dial and navigate the IRS phone tree until they find an open spot in the callback queue. Once they get you in line, they transfer the callback to your phone number. They don't charge you to do what you could do yourself. The difference is they have automated systems that keep trying while you go about your day, instead of you personally sitting on hold for hours. It's basically like having a robot assistant make the calls for you until it succeeds.
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Yuki Ito
I need to eat my words about Claimyr. I was super skeptical but tried it anyway because I was desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about my small business deductions. Got a callback in about an hour, and the IRS agent actually answered my question about depreciating furniture in a home business setting. Saved me an entire afternoon of waiting on hold. For what it's worth, the agent confirmed you can definitely deduct business-use percentage of furniture, just keep good records.
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Carmen Lopez
One thing nobody's mentioned - make sure you take pictures of the destroyed couch before you get rid of it! My accountant always tells me to document the condition of things I'm replacing for business reasons. Also keep the receipt for the new couch and maybe write a note on it about the business purpose. The IRS loves documentation if they ever question anything.
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AstroAdventurer
•Do you think it would be better to just take the whole cost as a business expense? Like can't I just say it's 100% for the dog sitting since that's what ruined it? The living room is where all the dogs hang out during the day.
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Carmen Lopez
•I wouldn't recommend claiming 100% business use if you actually use it for personal purposes too. The IRS specifically looks for people trying to deduct personal expenses as business ones. If you're honestly using it almost entirely for the business, you might be able to justify a higher percentage like 90%, but you should be truthful about any personal use. Better to take a slightly smaller legitimate deduction than risk problems with an audit by overreaching.
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Andre Dupont
Has anyone considered buying the couch through their business directly? I have a separate business account for my lawn care service and I buy equipment that way - seems cleaner for tax purposes.
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Zoe Papanikolaou
•That approach doesn't actually change the tax treatment. Whether you use a business account or personal funds later reimbursed, the deductibility still depends on the business use percentage. The IRS cares about the actual use of the item, not which account you used to buy it.
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