How to finance yourself while RVing fulltime?
Lets say you just bought a RV. You don't have much money left after buying her though. But you want to hit the road NOW, not in 5-10 years. What are the best ways to support yourself while RVing fullt...
Forum Discussion
bigdogger wrote:westend wrote:Other than the fact that the IRS would stomp all over that deduction for numerous reasons, how much income are you going to be able to shelter from the sale of a few postcards? Tax write offs are worthless if you don't have income. If you have income and are trying to write off depreciation on your RV, the RV had better be a necessity, not a convenience to earning that income. Best for 99% of all people to consider the costs of the RV and travel as something your traveling income is going to have to cover in addition to normal living expenses like food and insurance. Like others have said, it is possible to supplement retirement and social security income while RVing, but to make an actual living you really need a portable professional job. Still much better for the pre-retirement person to have a career and take RV vacations than it is to travel around the country working 6 months at a time flipping burgers at Micky D's.
If the vehicle is used in the conduct of a business, the vehicle expenses could be a business expense. I don't operate like that but do deduct vehicle expense from my business. You are getting into a grey area, there for me, as one would also be using it as a residence and there may be some fancy accounting in that regard. Really, there's nothing from preventing me from taking a few postcards for sale to the Grand Canyon, using a coach as the transportation, and writing the whole thing off.
I don't believe you're correct about the IRS and it's position on the hypothetical post card sales business. A nice thing about the tax code is that it allows for loss of income. Lets say our hypothetical post card salesman has another job. He earns $50,000/yr. but isn't content so forms his post card business, buys an RV and proceeds to drive many miles, selling only a few cards. The next years filing would show a big loss on Schedule C for the post card business and that number could be deducted from the $50K from his other income.
As to the exact relationship that the RV plays in the operation of a business and to personal use for recreation, I'm not clear. This is where a tax consultant or accountant would be of benefit.
