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Home Stager Fees Are Tax Deductible

By Kathy Passarette

Home Stager with Creative Home Expressions

April 02, 2008 03:03 AM

dollar signs

I came across this article this morning from The Kansas City Star that says Home Stager fees paid directly by the Homeowner are tax deductible. To summarize, it is considered "advertising fees" and falls under allowable selling expenses. However, while the stager's services are deductible, expenses for repairs, maintenance or permanent redecorating of the house are not.

Homeowners should check with their tax professional.

Kathy Passarette, and Creative Home Expressions, is based on Long Island, New York, and offers home staging, interior decorating, interior redesign and color consultations. For more information on our services please visit our website at www.creativehomeexpressions.com.

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Barbara Cluck-Miksits

BCM Home Staging LLC - Ridgewood, NJ

Home Staging - New Jersey

Kathy, clicked on the link, but it was not there. This could be great for us if it is true.

Jul 13, 2008 01:57 PM

Kathy Passarette

Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY

L.I. Staging/Decorating

Barbara ~ They probably archived it. I ordered the IRS publication, but like most of their publications, I was more confused when I finished then when I started reading it!

Jul 13, 2008 02:02 PM

Sassy Skelton

Staged Right Professional Home Staging Colorado Springs - Colorado Springs, CO

Brilliant! Another great source of information!

Sep 28, 2008 11:18 AM

Debbie Wheeler

Real Estate Staging/Rooms Rearranged, LLC - Chandler, AZ

Chandler, AZ Rooms Rearranged RESA, IRIS

Kathy - thanks for bringing this up again. I am bad at always telling my clients they can do this. I guess I need to put the link to the IRS (as Yvonne suggested) on my website.

Sep 28, 2008 11:38 AM

Kathy Passarette

Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY

L.I. Staging/Decorating

Sassy ~ Thank you!

Debbie ~ Definitely, I put the link on my website too. I also got the IRS Publication and I keep it in my briefcase in case the subject comes up.

Sep 29, 2008 12:07 AM

Connie Tebyani

Platinum Home Staging, Inc. : RESA-Pro - Calabasas, CA

Platinum Home Staging, Los Angeles and Ventura County

I'm glad someone bumped this back up to the top of the blogging heap to remind everyone to take advantage of Staging services before the end of the year!

Sep 29, 2008 02:23 AM

Kathy Passarette

Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY

L.I. Staging/Decorating

Connie ~ Good point! I can't believe October starts this week!

Sep 29, 2008 03:57 AM

Heather Chotard

In Style - Edmonton, AB

I wonder if they are in canada? I think that is a huge perk for homeowners!

Heather

Sep 29, 2008 05:04 AM

Kathy Passarette

Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY

L.I. Staging/Decorating

Heather ~ I don't know, but I guess you could check with whoever handles taxes; maybe your accountant would know.

Sep 29, 2008 06:10 AM

Virginia Tatseos

Stage-Show-Sell - Bloomfield Township, MI

How about sharing the link to the irs section with the info?

Sep 29, 2008 07:21 AM

Karen Otto

Home Star Staging - Plano, TX

Plano Home Staging, Dallas Home Staging, www.homes

I have a hard copy of this I give my clients( thanks to you Kathy) but apparently the link is no longer active, I just checked - anyone have any ideas as to where it went?

Sep 29, 2008 09:54 AM

Kathy Passarette

Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY

L.I. Staging/Decorating

Virginia ~ Here is the link to the IRS website for the publication relevant to this. I pulled this off my website so I have to see if it works once I hit "submit" here.

Visit the IRS website for
Publication 523, Selling Your Home.

Karen ~ Well, I'm glad to hear that! That newspaper archived the article like a week after I posted. I will check their archive and see if I can pull something up to link to.

Sep 29, 2008 10:58 AM

Kathy Passarette

Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY

L.I. Staging/Decorating

Karen ~ They did, they archived it. It would now cost $2.95 for one copy of that article and I couldn't find any other newspaper that might have printed it (sometimes they do a PDF that is accessible).

Sep 29, 2008 11:04 AM

Vicki Styons

RoomBenders - Columbia, SC

I am new to the business of staging and had never heard this and certainly had not thought to check into this possibility. This is another great reason for being on AR. Thank you for the tip!

Vicki

Sep 29, 2008 01:25 PM

Terrylynn Fisher

Dudum Real Estate Group - BuyStageSell.com - Walnut Creek, CA

HAFA Certified, EcoBroker, CRS, CSP Realtor, Etc.

LOVE THIS, glad it came back around. t

Sep 29, 2008 07:05 PM

Virginia Tatseos

Stage-Show-Sell - Bloomfield Township, MI

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p523/ar02.html#d0e377

The IRS is not that simple. Think we need some of the BS taken out of it.

The way I read it..... is that we can deduct any expenses in getting the house sold .... against the basis of the house. Remember we don't pay taxes on houses if we have lived in them for I believe 3 years out of the past 5 years. I must be principle residence and the non taxable profits are determined if it's a single person or an married couple.

To say that it's deductable may be misleading and we should say that they should contact their tax preparer.

You were smart in pointing us to the article that you read (even though it appears to be not there) and not quoting the law.

Sep 30, 2008 01:47 AM

Donata Morandi

2Glamour Inc. - Toronto, ON

2Glamour.ca

Thanks for bringing this up!!

Heather, i have an appointment with my accountant on Thursday and i will ask him re Canadian regulations and share this info!! Also, they might vary from state to state, i would think.

Sep 30, 2008 02:25 AM

Kathy Passarette

Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY

L.I. Staging/Decorating

Vicki ~ Glad you got some use from it! I did this back in April, and found out that others had posted about it prior to mine, so a lot of topics come around again.

Sep 30, 2008 04:24 AM

Kathy Passarette

Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY

L.I. Staging/Decorating

Terry ~ Thanks! I guess it's good to have these things come around again for new people joining AR and new to staging.

Virginia ~ Absolutely, I put in about checking with your tax professional purposely, because I know you can get a major migraine just from trying to figure these things out.

Sep 30, 2008 04:27 AM

Kathy Passarette

Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY

L.I. Staging/Decorating

Donata ~ Thanks go to Sassy Skelton for reviving this post! : )

Sep 30, 2008 04:31 AM