On Oct 14, 10:01 am, "speednxs" <speednxstic...[at]earthlink.net> wrote:
- quote -

But if my personal use (if over 14 days) is more than 10% of my rental
use, then I can't deduct more than the income on the property - is that
correct?

"Gil Faver" <rowdy'sboss[at]xxyz.com> wrote in message
news:%19Yg.64875$QZ1.30729[at]bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...

- quote -

Even if you spend some time looking around for someone to work on the house
and the rest of the time having a ball with the family, it will still count
as a business trip. The IRS is flexible as long as you don't overdo it and
try to claim a lot of unnecessary trips.

"speednxs" <speednxsticket[at]earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1160845230.102546.256440[at]h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

and don't forget that days you spend there working do not count as vacation
days, even if your family is having a ball while you are working on the
house.

- quote -

The worst that can happen to you is that you pro-rate your personal use
and rental use. It's not all or nothing. This difference in your case
isn't that big if you rented it most of the year other than your 20
days. Obviously you would like to say that it is all rental use. The
rules are very tedious and well documented. Keep your personal use
down to less than 14 days and this hassle goes away.

IRS Pub 17 says that dwelling unit is used as a "home" if used for
personal purposes *more than* *the greater of* (1) 14 days or (2) 10%
of the total it is rental at fair rental.

After having CPA and PA give conflicting interpretation, I'm not sure
but I think this means that:

If my personal use is 20 days, I must rent it at least 200 days to
deduct expenses as a production of income property, i.e. deductible
loss on schedule E.

Is this a valid example of the second condition (2) above, the 10% not
having been breeched but being the greater number of days?

(The loss of course would be passive loss for me, separate issue.)

Thanks.