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August 13, 2008, 10:39 am

How do I claim a trailer on my taxes?

Jim Leiterman, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
I bought a 21-foot trailer for business use. This office trailer is mobile because I had to travel to a client’s last year. (It does sit mostly in the backyard as an office trailer, but I don't write off electricity.) My accountant thinks of this as business use of the home. I see it as a $30,000 piece of equipment and never as business use of the home. Can I indeed section 179 it and if so, should I take all I can to zero out my taxes and then use the balance in a seven-year depreciation? I realize that California has its own ideas of depreciation that don't match the IRS.

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