Dogs have long been used to protect homes and other buildings, but one dog is regularly being used to guard the valuables in a car -- a role his owner claims should be a deductible expense.
Michele Knight, a CPA at Knight Accounting & Technology, said her client is a financial adviser and often has important personal documents and a laptop with very sensitive client data in his car. Since his car doesn't have a security system, he brings his pet pit bull with him to protect the information whenever he travels outside of his home office and has to leave his car unattended between appointments.
Knight said that the IRS does in fact allow deductions for business security systems. And in her client's case, even though the dog wasn't certified as a guard dog, Knight let the deduction through because he had all the documentation to back it up.
Not only has the client been tracking dog food and veterinary bills, he has also calculated the percentage of time the dog spends in the car each day -- 8 hours, 2 to 3 days a week, and he has pro-rated the annual dog-related expenses like pet insurance, dog food, medicine and vet care for that amount of time.
Taxpayers can claim up to $13,360 for each child they have adopted in the past 6 years.
