High Priced Lift Tickets

[Great Bear]

Sorry But NO
Primary job is healthcare for 40+ years. Weekend job is Patrol and as I have said it was OK'd by the IRS in 2 audits and I claimed that deduction for more than 25 years. Even switched accountants, got audited again, and IRS confirmed for the 2nd time that it was legitimate.

Are you W2'ed or 1099ed from SR?

 

[Domeskier]

Interesting... Never understood that to be true for a second job.

that sort of seems odd, but you've cleared the hurdle twice.

Has the IRS explicitly said it was ok? Or did they just not catch it twice? Or maybe that wasn't the focus of the audit so they didn't even look at that particular part. Every audit is different with what they look at.

I've never heard of that for a 2nd job either. Although I'm no expert on the topic so maybe there are certain scenarios where that is allowed.

It's not ok if its a separate business. If he's a self-employed healthcare worker I could see his accountant taking the position that patrolling at SR is part of his primary healthcare business and report all related income and expenses on the same Schedule C.

If his primary business is healthcare and his side gig is timing ski races, that would not work unless he can show that his principal place of business for timing ski races is not SR and he files separate Schedule C's for them. Seems like the expenses would eventually exceed the value of the pass, however.

If he's getting a W-2 from the resort, it's a nonstarter.

 

[2Planker]

Has the IRS explicitly said it was ok? Or did they just not catch it twice? Or maybe that wasn't the focus of the audit so they didn't even look at that particular part. Every audit is different with what they look at.

I've never heard of that for a 2nd job either. Although I'm no expert on the topic so maybe there are certain scenarios where that is allowed.

One more time....
It was brought up BOTH times, scrutinized and then OK'd both times......
Mind you, this was 1990-2015. Tax laws change all the time. I used to have thousands of dollars of professional & charitable deductions that I can no longer claim....

 

[NYDB]

You were probably claiming the deduction for charitable miles driven.
NSP is a charitable organization and non paid patrollers are allowed to write off all their expenses related to volunteer ski patrol as a charitable deduction.

job related deductions are no longer allowed For W2 employees So if you are a wage slave you are S.O.L. On deducting any job expenses.

 

[Hawk]

I went all in 15 years ago and bought a condo at sugarbush. I spend about $1,300 on the pass with add ons, there are condo fees, taxes, Sugarbush water bill, Electricity and cable. Then there is the bar tab. Let's not talk about that. We do not eat at the mountain and either bring something or ski back to the condo. The real bonus is the summer season. Biking, MTB, Hiking, golfing, and general fun is so cool that is elevates the whole experience. It makes the pass mean just about nothing as far as cost. I hope it goes way up and then things will be perfect. It will weed out all the riff raff. My freinds and family are smart enough to buy all the pre-mentioned options for cost savings measures so they get to come up also. For me it's just about all good.

 

[Domeskier]

I actually have my US Ski and Snowboard Association Alpine Official status with my timing certification, which is a stated requirement to run certain levels of races, and as such do receive compensation from the mountain whenever I am working a race, so it's not some volunteer only thing in this case.

If I can LEGALLY deduct a few miles per the tax code, great. If my accounant, when I run this buy her, doesn't think it's risk worthy, then won't be any different on my wife's and my tax return than in years past. Can't hurt to ask, since I am guessing that none of us, when given the opportunity to legally pay less taxes, wouldn't want to atleast ask a question about if you can or can't!

Absolutely; go ahead and ask. The law is clear that business expenses do not include the costs of commuting to your primary place of employment. However, maybe there's a way to recharacterize the expenses (e.g., as costs of maintaining business certifications) that would make them deductible against whatever income you get from timing races (but not your income from dentistry). Assuming, of course, you are not a W-2 employee of the resort.

 

[Harvey]

weed out all the riff raff

Are these the people posting in the skiing on the cheap thread?

 

[Hawk]

Maybe. But I was mostly just tolling them.

 

[Harvey]

Haha me too.

I just don't see how skiing can get cheaper and less crowded at the same time. It would require a dramatic drop in operating and capex cost.

I buy my season passes (Plattekill and Gore) because skiing those hills makes me happy. I ski them each maybe 10 times a year, and another 8 or 10 total at McCauley, Belleyare, Snow Ridge, Killington and Jay or Smuggs. So with those two passes I'm paying ~$70 a day for my ticket? It's a TINY part of my total cost to ski. Biggest cost is property tax, second is plowing.

Full disclosure, I could give two shits about variety. I don't need to ski all kinds of different places. If I get one new NY or VT ski area in a year, it's a successful season for variety.

I'd rather ski a place I know and love, when it's good, and do it with friends. I like to ski trees we've worked on too.

On an average ski day for me at Plattekill, I know 80% of the employees and 20% of the skiers by name. That's fun to me.

 

[Smellytele]

Haha me too.

I just don't see how skiing can get cheaper and less crowded at the same time. It would require a dramatic drop in operating and capex cost.

I buy my season passes (Plattekill and Gore) because skiing those hills makes me happy. I ski them each maybe 10 times a year, and another 8 or 10 total at McCauley, Belleyare, Snow Ridge, Killington and Jay or Smuggs. So with those two passes I'm paying ~$70 a day for my ticket? It's a TINY part of my total cost to ski. Biggest cost is property tax, second is plowing.

Full disclosure, I could give two shits about variety. I don't need to ski all kinds of different places. If I get one new NY or VT ski area in a year, it's a successful season for variety.

I'd rather ski a place I know and love, when it's good, and do it with friends. I like to ski trees we've worked on too.

On an average ski day for me at Plattekill, I know 80% of the employees and 20% of the skiers by name. That's fun to me.

If everybody got joy from the same things places would be crowded and then it wouldn't be enjoyable anymore. Kind of a catch 22 scenario would occur.

 

[Hawk]

Harvey is more like me in that he likes the comrodery of sking the same place and knowing the people. But you are dead right Kusty. If everybody liked the same thing then some places would be packed.

 

[Harvey]

Hey I never said my model was scalable, just that it works for me.

My point was that I am "paying more per day" to ski than your average Mt Snow skier, but (IMO) I'm having more fun doing it my way. If you don't count camping out for first chair, I think I waited an hour in line all season this past year.

 

[BenedictGomez]

When's the last time you saw a BOGO?
Send a link if you know of one.

BOGO went the way of the Dodo.

 

[BenedictGomez]

My accountant had me deducting 350 miles every weekend that I worked for SR. Basically every weekend from Thanksgiving until April.
No problem at all. Even got audited 2 times during those 25 years. Never an issue with that deduction.

That's precisely why you got audited twice in 25 years.

 

[2Planker]

That's precisely why you got audited twice in 25 years.

No. The audits were both over large charitable donations to build clinics in Haiti and Africa.

 

[drjeff]

No. The audits were both over large charitable donations to build clinics in Haiti and Africa.

Same thing for my wife and I. The only time we have been audited was when we made a sizeable donation to a Haitian charity that was started by, and overseen by one of my wife's business partners father in Jeremie, Haiti. Have made multiple trips to the clinic there in the past, to do charitable work, especially before some of the chaos that has decended on that country in the past 5+ years

 

[BenedictGomez]

No. The audits were both over large charitable donations to build clinics in Haiti and Africa.

LOL. That'll do it too, the confluence probably red-lined you on the IRS's funny-games meter.

 

[Great Bear]

Haha me too.

I just don't see how skiing can get cheaper and less crowded at the same time. It would require a dramatic drop in operating and capex cost.

I buy my season passes (Plattekill and Gore) because skiing those hills makes me happy. I ski them each maybe 10 times a year, and another 8 or 10 total at McCauley, Belleyare, Snow Ridge, Killington and Jay or Smuggs. So with those two passes I'm paying ~$70 a day for my ticket? It's a TINY part of my total cost to ski. Biggest cost is property tax, second is plowing.

Full disclosure, I could give two shits about variety. I don't need to ski all kinds of different places. If I get one new NY or VT ski area in a year, it's a successful season for variety.

I'd rather ski a place I know and love, when it's good, and do it with friends. I like to ski trees we've worked on too.

On an average ski day for me at Plattekill, I know 80% of the employees and 20% of the skiers by name. That's fun to me.

Well - cheaper depends on your situation. As referenced before:

Category 1: For an IKON pass holder that would not have been a season pass candidate under the "old model" who figured out they can do a boatload of day trips on a relatively inexpensive pass, skiing is much cheaper today.
Category 2: For occasional skiers who might want to come up once or twice a year (still not season pass candidates) it is much much more expensive.
Category 3: For others who are single resort passholders it just depends on the history of that resorts pricing - but for those who are at resorts that are also limited IKON partner resorts, they are also much more crowded (likely due to those skiers in category 1)

 

[Harvey]

Somehow I feel like $30 parking is not part of this equation.

I'm saying that it is not cheaper to run a ski area then it was 10 years ago.

So if people are "paying less" you need more people on the hill, or you have to make it up with other charges.

 

[1dog]

Same thing for my wife and I. The only time we have been audited was when we made a sizeable donation to a Haitian charity that was started by, and overseen by one of my wife's business partners father in Jeremie, Haiti. Have made multiple trips to the clinic there in the past, to do charitable work, especially before some of the chaos that has decended on that country in the past 5+ years

Isn’t that a bit sad? You guys are making time and talent to help that wasteland and it’s desperate people, and the US government has to spend $$ to make sure it’s legit.

Know political families who’ve gotten rich ‘helping others’ but don’t hear about their organizations getting audited.

I’m sure it’s taken advantage of but now it’s AI that’s gonna chose the audits not agents.

87k more agents and bullets too.

Smells of a desperate Treasury.

Nice to hear people helping people either way.