I'm mostly in agreement with TaxGuyBill (and in my situation I'm covered since we all were working substantially full time on our work days). However, not everyone has to be fully working to count it as a maintenance day (vs a personal day). Here is a scenario straight from publication 527 page 18:
Days used for repairs and maintenance.
Any day that you spend working substantially full time repairing and maintaining (not improving) your property is not counted as a day of personal use. Do not count such a day as a day of personal use even if family members use the property for recreational purposes on the same day.
Example. Corey owns a cabin in the mountains that he rents for most of the year. He spends a week at the cabin with family members. Corey works on maintenance of the cabin 3 or 4 hours each day during the week and spends the rest of the time fishing, hiking, and relaxing. Corey's family members, however, work substantially full time on the cabin each day during the week. The main purpose of being at the cabin that week is to do maintenance work. Therefore, the use of the cabin during the week by Corey and his family will not be considered personal use by Corey.
I know they can't spell out every situation, but this one really throws a wrench into things - how many of Corey's family was there? Is the reason it doesn't count as a personal day is that more people were working than were not working? Talk about taking something that is complicated and make it even more unclear with this example.
I know I'm good on what days I'm counting as personal days vs maintenance days. I've decided to only deduct the two property owners meal expenses for the maintenance days rather than all 4 of us to be on the safe side.
Coleen
