Military Submariners serving on two crew ballistic missile or guided missile boats are eligible to deduct lodging and other expenses when their "Tax Home" (the sub) is unavailable. Sometimes this is called the FBM Deduction. There are many discussions of what exactly is deductible, but this worksheet will work in most situations and make it easy to determine what amounts to enter on various forms or enter into tax prep software. If you find this worksheet useful, and it saves you money on taxes, consider making a donation.
Here are links to instructions for entering the results in popular tax software programs:
2013 Boomer Deduction Instructions for Turbo Tax Online
2013 Boomer Deduction Instructions for H&R Block Online
2013 Boomer Deduction Instructions for Tax Slayer
Boomer
Deduction Worksheet for Tax Preparation - 2013
Numbers
are for entries into software or initial form entries.
(A) Days of Refit assist in 2013
__________
(B) Days of Off Crew in 2013
__________
(C) Distance from Home to Off Crew
Bldg __________
(D) Distance from Home to Waterfront
__________
(E) Rent (do not include any
mortgage info here)*__________
(F) Average Monthly Utilities
__________
(G) Do you go home for lunch every
day? __________
(H) Number of people (including wife
and kids) sharing your residence___________
(I) Total Days with boat unavailable
(A) + (B) = _____________
(J) Monthly Housing Costs (E) + (F)
= ______________
Form 2106 Computation Worksheet
Entries:
(K) Lodging and Incidental Expenses ((I)
/ 30 x (J))/H = _____________
(L) Laundry and Cleaning Expenses (I) /
7 x $10 = ______________
(M) Meal Expense (I) x Per Diem Rate
from Table below = ______________
(N) Business Mileage:
If (G) is NO:
( (A) x (D) x 2 ) + ( (B) x (C) x 2
) = ______________
If (G) is YES:
( (A) x (D) x 4 ) + ( (B) x (C) x 4
) = ______________
Per Diem Rates (assumes reasonable
distance form base):
Glynn County, GA $56
Other GA Counties around Kings Bay
$46
Florida (around Jacksonville) $51
Kitsap County, WA $46
King County, WA $71
Pierce County, WA $61
Other counties look up in IRS Pub
1542 or http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/100120
*You deduct mortgage interest, taxes and mortgage insurance premiums directly on Schedule A
A must read:
American Sniper LP: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History*You deduct mortgage interest, taxes and mortgage insurance premiums directly on Schedule A
A must read:
I believe the dates a member took leave during the off crew period should be taken out of the off crew days before calculation.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree. His "home" is still unavailable. When an employee is given a work assignment out of time, we don't subtract the days he doesn't actually work from the days he's allowed to claim deductions for. He is AWAY from home and has no option but to pay for housing and meals. Same with the Boomer sailor. His "home" is unavailable thus requiring him to provide his own housing. I'm not saying this isn't a grey area, but I am comfortable deducting housing and meals. Mileage would be another point, and I would definitely subtract leave days from the mileage calculation (in fact, mileage shouldn't be counted for any day that the member doesn't go to work, so there's some room for adjustment there).
ReplyDeleteWhy is "rent" listed and mortgage excluded? Can you not take advantage of this if you own a home?
ReplyDeleteYou can still take advantage of the boomer deduction, and your housing costs would include your utilities, but, if you own your home, you are already taking interest and taxes on the schedule A in a much better place. The only thing left is principle, which is not deductible since it is money you will get back when the house is sold. You can theoretically take depreciation, but that adds tons of complications, and will also have repercussions downstream. If you want to milk the deduction for everything it's worth as a homeowner, take your HOA dues, pest control, insurance and other expenses and calculate a monthly rate for them and include it with utilities.
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