Since 33% of Americans do their own taxes some of you might not know about unusual exemptions you can claim. Since 2022 was devastating on my business I was forced to get creative to save money on my taxes and I found one that is definitely worth exploring further.
Rainbows and Unicorns?
I want to live in Joe’s world where he keeps telling all of us about massive job growth, the strong economy and that everything is rainbows and unicorns, however, since I have looked everywhere for those things without success, I now believe it would be easier to find a Leprechaun and talk him out of his pot of gold. With that in mind I searched the IRS website for unique tax deductions I could use since I am self-employed. I like to think of my wife as my partner in all of this, so I made sure to include her on all my ideas. I should point out this is something you should always do to have a happy and healthy marriage.
This is where it got confusing.
Oddly, even though I explained all the money we could save it had no effect on her decision which was a resounding NO. I even tried pointing out that she was being unreasonable and stubborn. Apparently pointing that out can have the opposite effect one might think.
What I found in this court case was that you could hire and pay for a girlfriend.
This is a great deduction you can claim, not me though, as my wife refuses to see the whole picture. What Bruce did was hire his girlfriend to decorate his house and complete other basic household duties. The IRS said deducting her pay was not legit, so Bruce went to the Tax Court and won. The court said he could claim a deduction for everything besides the housekeeping chores, which they ruled were non-deductible.
I have a plan.
I knew the housekeeping chores might be a problem, but I was willing to give it a shot anyway. While my wife and I were discussing out taxes I saw my opening and I went for it. I explained that I could hire a girl to live with us but that I needed to “for tax reasons” identify her as my “girlfriend”. I think I was close to making this work till I told my wife she would still need to do all the household chores, washing, cleaning, cooking etc. since I could not pay my “girlfriend” for those things. It was at this point I found out you can claim all your medical expenses for Hospital visits, band aids and crutches. Hopefully, your wife will be more reasonable when considering this tax deduction. I will let you know if mine comes to her senses in about 6-8 weeks when I have been released from physical therapy. I will admit, that did not go anything like I imagined it would, not even close.
Greg Rosen is a father, Husband, Realtor, and humorist writer for several major newspapers. Questions or comments can be sent to [email protected].