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Thread: Deductions for product reviews? Have I found a loophole?

  1. #1
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    Default Deductions for product reviews? Have I found a loophole?

    I own a number of websites and some of them do product reviews.

    If I buy a product to do a review on I can deduct that correct? After I am done with the review what can I do with the product?

    Can I sell the product to myself (from the corporation) or a friend for one dollar? If so can I do a review about every single product I buy, like a car or TV?

    I would guess that this is illegal in some way but have not found any documentation.

  2. #2
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    If you use a product for personal reasons, you can't deduct its full value as a business expense. You can't buy a TV, write a review, and then keep the TV in your living room all year and claim it as a business expense, because it clearly wasn't a business expenses.

    If you buy a car only the portion used for business is deductible. I forget exactly how it's calculated, but say you drive 5 miles during the week for business reasons and then over the weekend you and your family drive 45 miles to visit someone. 2% of your car would be tax deductible. Again, I don't remember the specifics of how it's calculated, but it's something along those lines.

    By the way people who legitimately do product reviews as a significant part of their business typically don't buy everything they review. A company lends them a product for a week or two or whatever. The person writes the review and sends back the product after the lending time is over.
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    To add to what VG said, if you receive a product for free to do a review and you want to start nickle and diming with the IRS over deductions, technically that is income and you should pay taxes on it. Unless you are incurring expense to get the product, or buying it I would leave it alone. Sometimes you can try so hard trying to be slick that you end up screwing yourself.

    Just play it straight.

  4. #4
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    Typically product reviewers are given merchandise for free by the manufacturer or some distributor in exchange for a testimonial. You don't buy stuff to review and then claim it as a business expense. If that were the case, everything I've ever bought on Amazon and decided to write a review on I could claim. That just makes no sense.
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  5. #5
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    Business loophole..? Definitely not. Wacky plot to a sitcom comedy... More likely.
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