Working From Home on Your Land Business (LA 1609)

Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:

Hello.

Steven Jack Butala:

Welcome to the Land Academy show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala .

Jill DeWit:

And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the valley of the sun.

Steven Jack Butala:

Today, Jill and I talk about working from home on your land business.

Jill DeWit:

Pretty hot topic.

Steven Jack Butala:

It is. I saw that actually, I saw it, it ranked high... It falls under something I thought we all would've known and how this works but I get it though.

Jill DeWit:

Do you know what's so funny? It used to be, working from home on X, right? Meaning, you would have a second job, whatever gig, and now everybody's working from home. So, it's like, what do you happen to be working from home on? Does that make sense? Are you're working from home? No kidding. Is it your day job? You know what I mean? I'm just curious, so is the planet.

Steven Jack Butala:

It wasn't that long ago when someone said, she's working from home today?

Jill DeWit:

Right.

Steven Jack Butala:

And everybody would say, oh, she's getting nothing done and took the day off.

Jill DeWit:

Totally.

Steven Jack Butala:

It's just not the case at all- [crosstalk 00:00:59]

Jill DeWit:

She's doing laundry and she's watching movies- [crosstalk 00:01:01].

Steven Jack Butala:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jill DeWit:

And everything. Now, it has a whole new different meaning now, it's true.

Steven Jack Butala:

Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com, online community is free. And don't forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.

Jill DeWit:

I've got to add one little thing here too, by the way, home schooling has a whole new meaning now too.

Steven Jack Butala:

It's going to be interesting how this episode goes.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah. I know.

Steven Jack Butala:

Two cynical people talk about working from home.

Jill DeWit:

I know. Okay. All right. Back to the topic. Jeff wrote, I've been an instructor since 2008.

Steven Jack Butala:

Flight instructor.

Jill DeWit:

Okay. I thought of making flying an expense and probably would have been viable in the years before drones existed. I think you could do as an expense but be very costly compared to the low cost of getting the same photos from a drone. If you could expense the travel but it would be more expensive than the airlines. I think you could expense the travel but it'd be more expensive than the airlines, got it. So, Kevin, our moderator wrote, you can make anything an expense.

Steven Jack Butala:

Yep.

Jill DeWit:

Get the right CPA. That's true. When he interviewed my CPA he asked an important question, how far do you want me to push the tax laws? I tell him I'm going to push it right up to the limit of the law.

Steven Jack Butala:

Me too.

Jill DeWit:

I don't care if I'm audited, as long as we document everything. He said, no problem, I know what to do. I think that flying over land that you have an interest in, you can define what an interest means, will be deductible. You will probably get audited but make sure it's documented and handled correctly on the tax returns. I have done this with a trip in the car to another state, I drove by some parcels while I was the and noted the APNs. Totally, totally on the same page.

Steven Jack Butala:

So, I agree with just about everything that Kevin said but he left a couple of really important key phrases out. Is it ordinary and necessary for you to get your pilot license to fly over an airplane and get good footage? That depends on what type of business you have. If you are a pilot that specializes in land, in fact, we actually have a person in our group who buys vacant land in these airplane communities. Where you land on your own airstrip, taxi into the hangar that is attached to your house and you live there. So,