I am curious if there are any Hip Camp landowners out there? I am curious how you file and how you write off the cost to develop your site?

[dandjwoodenboards]

We set up a Hip Camp site. It cost us about $6,000-7,000 to build. We have brought in about $470 of rental income (not much, but still income). I'm wondering if we can offset our tax burden by writing off the money we spent to get the Hip Camp RV rental site moving.

[Vanessa A]

What did you build? Did you add water, electricity and sewer hookups or did you build a structure or bathroom facility or something else like a playground? Although for the most part, most improvements are in someway deductible as an expense, depreciation or start up cost, what you built or spent money on would determine how it was treated.  

Also, how it is treated could depend on the type of income it will be reported as.  Your hip camp rental would be similar to owning and renting an AirBnB.   So, if the property is rented an average of 7 days or less it is not considered rental activities or if you provide Substantial services, it is NOT considered rental income, instead it is considered self-employment income. 

If the average rental period is greater than 7 days and you do NOT provide substantial services, then it would be reported on Schedule E.