[HUG ] Re: On the subject of equipement cost

Tom - Here in timber country, aerial photography is used to measure forest health, condition, etc and for lumber mill log deck inventories. That sounds like a "forest industry related" camera expense to me. What constitutes a business expense is somewhat of a reasonable judgment call by the business owner. Unless the expense was way out of line, the worst a tax audit would do would be a denial of the expense and maybe some past interest penalties. The fraudulent (and dangerous) course is when you hide income, not when you stretch the boundaries of expenses a bit.
In America, government is rapidly trying to convince everyone that they are just an "an ordinary employee", where paychecks are easy targets for all manner of taxes. As Clinton was actually recorded as saying, "we can't give you those taxes back, you might not spend them right." NOBODY has to be an ordinary employee. Sell Tupperware at parties, books door-to-door, photographs at fairs -- something, ANYTHING, that makes you a businessman working under the same rules as the big boys. 

Gary Todoroff
Sure, this is very similar as over here. But here in Norway I am only an ordinary employee with no possibility to deduct any 'hobby expenses' from my income.
But my wife and I own a forest estate in Sweden. This is reckoned as a 'business' according to Swedish tax rules. We have to make a tax declaration every year, declare income, deduct expenses, VAT paid and VAT charged. We have a depreciation plan where we depreciate any large investments done during the year, like machinery, tools, protective clothes, roads or plantings - and pay 32% tax on any profit. Running a forest estate like this is indeed a tax planning exercise. But sorry, no photo equipment can be deducted. And there is no discussion! Swedish tax authorities are very strict and the rules are very specific; it got to be very 'forest industry related'. 

Tom of Oslo

> From: Gary Todoroff [datamaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: 2008-10-16 04:55:19 CEST
> To: hasselblad@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [HUG ] Re: SV: Re: On the subject of equipement  cost
>
> You are in business in the US if you engage in financial activity
> with the intent to make a profit. T



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