Well, it’s April 16th.  Hopefully, you’ve gotten all of your tax requirements taken care of.  After all, the IRS is probably the last group of people, government employees or otherwise, that you want knocking on your front door.  But if you’re one of those people who uses the golf course to make your business deals, then did you remember to claim everything?

It’s always a question in the back of the mind of everyone who uses the golf course as a tool to “close the deal.”  When the question “Can I write this off?” goes through your mind, especially if you’re not able to seal the deal with your potential client, a quick bit or research can reveal that yes, you can in fact write off that round and meal.  Well, a portion of it anyway.

As with anything involving the government, things are never cut-and-dry.  Everything is always complicated.  After all, they’re certainly not going to let you just get money without making you work for it.  But, do a little bit of that work, and it can do nothing but benefit you.

So, the write-off – as mentioned earlier, yes you can write off your golf as well as your meal and drinks in the 19th hole.  But (there’s always a but), you can’t have it all.  You can write off up to 50% of what you spend.  But hey, half is better than none, right?  Of course, the details go a bit further.  In order for the government to know you are not just taking advantage of the rules, all of the details must be documented.  You know, in case of audit.  Speaking of which, a good piece of info to keep in mind is, the more deductions you take, the better your chance of being audited.

Do you do anything related to golf as a business?  You could have some golf write-offs there as well.  Maybe you’re a golf-blogger.  Maybe you’ve turned it into a business, selling goods, services or something to that effect.  Maybe you have a few partners.  Maybe you have your meetings over dinner, or out on the course followed by some food and drinks in the 19th hole.  Are you writing these things off?

Come to think of it…it seems the crew here at GolfStinks is due for a meeting among it’s partners.  Maybe next Saturday is a good day for a meeting.  The weather is supposed to be nice on Saturday, right?

Swing ’til you’re happy…and be sure to document it!