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I own a pickup truck that I use for work quite often. Can I lease the truck to my business? If so, are the payments taxable?
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Yes, the lease payments are at least partly taxable income. It's hard to say how much, it will depend on the lease agreement and you will need to run this through an accountant.
Basically, a lease is a short term sale of a partial interest. Looking at a new car from a dealer, let's think about a $25,000 selling price, 3 year lease, $15,000 residual value. That means you are buying $10,000 worth of car over 3 years, so part of your payment is principle and part is interest. If you are the lessor, the interest part would be taxable income.
But the problem is you are also reducing your cost basis in the vehicle which will create issues if you try to sell it as used after the lease is up. And, if the business does not use the vehicle 100% for work, then it can only deduct part of the lease payment even though the entire amount is taxable to you.
There are also significant liability issues to leasing. In some states, the lessor is still the owner and is liable for any damage, accidents or other casualties. You didn't go to the trouble of incorporating your business to protect yourself from personal liability, only to assume significant personal liability for the business leasing the vehicle from you.
I get that you want a way to reduce your car expenses, since as an employee of an S-corp, your business use of the vehicle is only deductible on form 2106 subject to the 2% rule. But I think this is the wrong way to go.
There are two options I like better.
A. Sell the entire interest in the car to the business. You can deduct the car expenses as a business expense. If you also use the car for personal use, the value of the personal use has to be added to your W-2 box 1 taxable income because it is a taxable employee benefit. This is still messy, though slightly less messy than leasing the car to yourself.
B. You continue to own the vehicle but have the business reimburse you for your vehicle expenses at the IRS statutory rate (currently 53.5 cents per mile) under an accountable plan. With an accountable plan, you are only reimbursed for actual expenses that you prove with receipts or other documentation. You would keep a mileage diary that lists the date, time, business purpose of the trip, and the mileage, and submit it for reimbursement periodically. Reimbursements under an accountable plan are deductible expenses to the business and are not taxable to you. (You can't also take a tax deduction for expenses that were reimbursed tax-free, but the tax-free reimbursement is better for you than the deduction.) The standard mileage rate includes allowances for gas, repairs, maintenance and wear and tear. Most of the time, it is more lucrative than the actual expense method and it is much easier to calculate. (If you want to use the actual expense method, see chapter 4 of IRS publication 463.) Whether you use the standard rate or the actual expense method, you can separately be reimbursed for tolls and parking that are work related.
Frankly, if you do anything other than B, I would get the advice of an accountant. Leasing or selling the car to the business (while you continue to use is part of the time for personal use) is complicated and may not result in the tax savings you think it will and could get you into various kinds of legal and insurance trouble.
sole proprietor
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