Tax questions for therapy dogs and service dogs

[blackandtan]

I am hoping one of you is an accountant. My accountant has never dealt with service dogs or therapy dogs.

I have a pet therapy dog that is training to do search and rescue.

First questions is can I write off expenses for my dog being a pet therapy dog? I am talking about milage, equipment (leashes, harnesses, etc), etc. What about food and training classes to keep the obedience up?

Second, I am spending a ton of money trying to train him as a search and rescue dog. He is not one yet. But its our goal. Can we write off those expeses?

I know charitble contributions have to be contributions you are making to a specifc non-profit organization. But I am not really contributing to a non-profit. Some of the hospitals & Convenlescent homes are not non profit. Maybe the IRS would look at it as me contributing to the therapy organization?

As far as the Search and Rescue, I think I am screwed until I get the actual certification and start the work. Its just that it costs so much to get tto that point.

Could I have my dog as a business, never charge anyone and write things off as business expenses. I would show a business loss each year of course and write that off. Just wondering if thats legal.

I wish my accountant knew more about working with dogs and the specifics of it.

[moondog]

You need a new accountant....

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p502/ar02.html#d0e1110

Guide Dog or Other Animal

You can include in medical expenses the cost of a guide dog or other animal to be used by a visually-impaired or hearing-impaired person. You can also include the cost of a dog or other animal trained to assist persons with other physical disabilities. Amounts you pay for the care of these specially trained animals are also medical expenses.

Your best bet is to call the IRS and flat out ask them these questions. They will answer them for you. :)

[2rotties2luv]

My rottie Jazz works as a therapy dog, and my accountant says these are the items that can be deducted:

mileage to and from therapy visit location
cost of equipment (collar, leash, harness, etc.) used ONLY for therapy visits
cost of treats used ONLY for therapy visits.
Cost of fulfilling requirements for therapy dog registration, required to be renewed every 2 years for the Delta Society. This includes:
Cost of vet health check & fecal analysis
Cost of evaluation test
cost of registration fee to Delta Society

[fbkeays]

Originally Posted by 2rotties2luv

My rottie Jazz works as a therapy dog, and my accountant says these are the items that can be deducted:

You also forgot the cost of grooming. One of the requirements to be a therapy dog is to be clean and well groomed. So you can deduct the expense of a groomer if you use one or if you do it yourself, the shampoo, clippers, ect.

[moondog]

I do think it matters "who" the therapy visits are with in determining the deductibility of the expenses.

[Rott-Wiley]

Originally Posted by blackandtan

Could I have my dog as a business, never charge anyone and write things off as business expenses. I would show a business loss each year of course and write that off. Just wondering if thats legal.

You're really pushing your luck on this one. Basically the IRS will allow someone to have a business and legally report losses for 3 out of 5 years. Beyond that they call it a hobby and will not allow you to claim deductions from it. Not to mention that if you try this you are going to be sending up red flags all over the place. Can you say, "Audit?"

[blackandtan]

I think Moondog posted the laws regarding guide dogs specific for disabled persons. I don't think Pet Therapy dogs fall under the same category.

The costs for pet therapy are rally not that much, and really not worth an audit.

The costs I am most interested in were all the training for the Pet Therapy (obedience) and now all the training we are doing for Search & Rescue which we are paying for and doing from a private organization.

The problem is he is not a certified SAR dog yet. Yet, I am forking over all this cash.

Dont worry...we will continue doing all of this regardless if we get the deduction or not.


I called about the hobby. You can only deduct as much as you take in from the hobby and since we dont charge, there is no money we can deduct :(