Business Discount for Services

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
February 18, 2022
3 replies
30 views

My wife is a CPR instructor. She taught a class to the staff at a camp for disadvantaged children. For the amount of people trained she normally would charge $1200. She only changed them $600. Can she claim a $600 loss as a business expense?

Rob

DianeW777

Level 15

No. Unfortunately the IRS (or Congress) believes our time is worthless when it comes to taxes. A deduction of lost income when it was never reported as taxable income in the first place is not allowed.

And you cannot report your income "estimating" your own labor, either.

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post. **Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

roberiksonAuthor

Level 2

Thank you.

Rick19744

Level 13

The reason is that you can't take a deduction unless you have a true outlay of cash or you actually recognized income (and paid tax on it) that was never collected.

In your case, you never recognized anything other than the $600. You never paid tax on that other $600 since you are most likely on the cash method of accounting.

Has nothing to do with the value "lost".

*A reminder that posts in a forum such as this do not constitute tax advice.Also keep in mind the date of replies, as tax law changes.