Traveling by Sailing

What does traveling by sailing have to do with tax information or tax advice? With a little creativity, find out how a sailboat can actually help you cut your tax bill.

Claiming the boat as a second home is one way to get a tax break from traveling by sailing. According to the Internal Revenue Service, for you to take a home mortgage interest deduction, a qualified home must secure your debt — and this can include boats. However, the sailboat must have sleeping, cooking and toilet facilities. If your boat has these facilities, you can claim the home mortgage interest deduction. In this situation, you can also claim any property tax levied on the boat.

Those that are more creative may turn the boat into a second office, and claim it against their home business. One could also create a home business centered around sailing in order to get the tax benefits. However, this creates a few hurdles to jump through, since the boat requires certification and licensing for charter operation in order to count as part of a business. However, there are advantages: slip fees and any sailboat-related expenses become part of the overall tax break of owning the sailboat.

As you can see, with a little creativity and a thorough understanding of the U.S. tax code, those that travel by sailboat have tax advantages available to them. If a sailboat owner is thorough and willing to put in the detail work, he or she can claim these tax advantages.