Can I use my swimming pool as a tax deduction?

I know you are like many of us who are shuffling through all of your receipts trying to prepare for your future taxes. Always dreading the scheduled trip for your up coming tax appointment with your accountant and spend countless hours racking your brain on I can and what I can’t write off this year. You need to consider everything. Always consider your swimming pool equipment and installation as a potential. However this will only fly if you have a legitimate reason for doing so.

Here are a list of 4 way you can write off your new swimming pool as a tax deduction.

A Business Expense:

If you use your swimming pool as part of your business, your CPA can deduct this as an expense. For example, if you start a business swimming coach. As long as you can prove an income from teaching neighborhood kids how to swim, this could be considered a legitimate business expense for you to deduct from your taxes.

Medical Reasons:

As long as you can prove to the IRS that the reason you had a swimming pool installed was for medical reasons and you can prove this with a letter from your primary care physician. For example, a hip replacement can some times require therapy for your recovery. Swimming exercises can be considered long term therapy for a full and productive recovery. In this situation, your CPA should be able to find a creditable means for writing off the expense you encountered for the installation of a swimming pool.

Home Improvement:

If you added a new swimming pool and spa into your backyard and the improvements to your home cost you $35,000 for the pool equipment, installation and start up. The investment ends up also increased the value of your home by $25,000. You can subtract the difference which would be $10,000 and claim this amount as a home improvement expense. Also consult with your CPA about any additional energy efficient upgrade you recently made to your swimming pool. Some “EnergyStar” products may qualify like solar heating and possibly even the new variable speed pool pumps like the Pentair IntelliFlo pool pump.

Home Equity Loans:

If you took a loan out from your house to put towards the purchase of a swimming pool installation than you may also be able to deduct the additional interest that you are now paying on your home equity as an additional deduction for your taxes.

These are just a few consideration to think about when you are preparing to meet with your tax professional. Of course every bodies situation is unique and you should always be guided by a qualified person for professional advice. Remember, just because you read it on the internet, doesn’t always mean it will apply to you. Good luck and happy new year!

Best Regards,

-RPS Blogger

Cheaper Ways to Save Energy on your Pool Equipment

Some of the newest products on the market today are among the most energy efficient pool equipment the swimming pool industry has ever seen.  Swimming pool equipment manufacturers are developing very low energy consumption variable speed pool pumps, LED pool lights, and Low NOx emission pool heaters. Many swimming pool owners are finding some of the energy savings to be as much as 90% on their utility bills. However, there is only one down side to all of this, you have to replace your existing pool equipment with this newer up-to-date energy efficient pool equipment.

Because many people are currently searching out new ways to save money on the routine day to day items such as your utility bills, we have developed some solutions that may reduce your energy consumption of your pool equipment by 50% or more. You can do this by adding rheostats (Dimmer Switch) to your pool lights or simply resizing your pool pump motor to suite this purpose.

Energy consumption is measured in Kilowatts of Energy use per hour. Many electric companies charge you approximately $.25/Kilowatt used. Basically, you are paying for the number of watts (energy) used. For example; a 1,000 watt light bulb would cost you $.25/hour, so a Single speed pool pump that consumes 2.5Kilowatts/hour would cost you about $0.62/hour.

Pool Filtration Pump:

More times than not, many swimming pool pumps are over sized, using a 2 horse power pool pump when a 1.5 horse power pool pump is actually what is needed. There is only one way to determine this, and that is based on pipe size (volume) and friction loss (pressure). Instead of trying to reduce the amount of hours your pool pump runs per day, you are always better off to reduce the flow and increase the time. If you added a rheostat to a single speed pool filtration pump – in theory – you can reduce the amount of energy consumed by the pool pump. Of course you would need to have an electrician or pool professional wire in the rheostat into your pool pump system to accomplish this, but it could save you on the amount of energy consumed by your pool pump.

Pool Lights:

A typical incandescent light bulb is what is found in many swimming pools and spas today. The wattage varies, but let’s assumes you have a 500 watt pool light illuminating your swimming pool at night. If you could install a dimmer switch (rheostat), you could reduce the amount of energy that is being consumed by that pool light bulb. In theory, you can now adjust (dim) your swimming light from a 500 watt light down to consume only 200 watts of energy, saving you 60% of energy consumption.

Although none of these ideas are better that what is currently found on the market today, you can still find ways around the high cost of energy bills and still enjoy the benefits of having a beautiful swimming pool. Not all swimming pool or spas will be capable of making these types of modifications, so make sure you always consult a swimming pool or electric professional before jumping into these changes.

Have a great day!
RPS Blogger