A tax advisor shared a potential hack for dog owners: In certain circumstances, you can claim your dog and related expenses on your tax return.
The video comes from TikTok creator @healerofwallets, billing himself as a “Personal Finance Edutainer,” specializing in clips that dispense financial advice. This particular one went up on Friday, getting more than 870,000 views as of Monday.
It starts with a stitch asking, “What’s something you found out late in life that you should have known earlier, but you just didn’t?”
The creator responds with the pet hack, noting, “Let’s say you have a small business or side hustle. You have a lovable pooch that you just can’t live without. You can write them off on your taxes as a service to the business. It can be positioned as either a guard dog or a certified medical service animal.”
He notes that any expenses related to the dog, such as pet food, can also be written off, though he recommends tracking all relevant spending.
Another tax advice source, the Intuit Turbo Tax blog, offers additional guidance on this. Regarding the service animal claim, it notes, “Service-animal-related expenses may be eligible for a tax write-off because your pet is providing a medical service to you. You can write off any medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, which may include service animal expenses.”
“In order to write off pet-related expenses for your service animal,” it adds, “you’ll need to prove that your pet provides a specific medical service to you. This may include guiding a blind person or providing support during a seizure.” It goes on to clarify that “a note from your physician to prove that your service animal provides a medical service” satisfies this.
@healerofwallets Rich people write off their dogs on their taxes.. And so can you! its 2024 and almost everyone out here has two things: 1. A side hustle adding money to the house. 2. a pet that’s taking money out. Here’s how you can write that fluffy, lovable, freeloader off on your taxes! Follow @HealerOfWallets for all things money. #newyork #nyc #taxes #taxseason #taxestaxestaxes #financetips #financenews #pet #petlovers #personalfinanceforwomen #personalfinance #personalfinacetips
♬ original sound – Personal Finance Edutainer
The article also observes that those who foster pets for a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that handles pet adoptions can also write off unreimbursed expenses.
One commenter noted, ‘Learning that rich people are rich bc they literally exempt EVERYTHING from taxes. And I mean EVERYTHING.”
The creator responded, “Exactly,” before advising, “Put everything in your life to work.”
“Oh my pooch is going to werk,” one asserted.
“Put them freeloaders to work,” the creator replied.
One user, though, voiced a more serious concern. “Tax preparer here.. please explain that this is EXCLUSIVELY for business owners and must be able to proof to be true during an audit.”
But some were prepared to stretch the claim to their potential extremes, with one noting, “I have a yoga business and my cat assists with cat yoga.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment.
