There seems to be a lot of people on this board who lease and claim the lease payment as a tax deduction.

I have in the past claimed the percentage of the miles I drive for business as a percentage lease payment deduction, but it would seem that many people claim the full payment. Am I being too conservative?

 

I believe that's what my accountant does. I drive 12k miles/year or more for business so I'm just about deducting the whole thing though

 

100% correct.

 

I leased my 2009 C4S for $1379 incl. taxes and worked out well;
I put $10k down; residual after 36 months was $60k (sticker of $112k, sale price $102k) and sold the car to the dealer for $69k 2 months prior to lease end.... nearly got all my down payment back and drove the car for 3 years for 32k...

The dealer sold the car within 3 weeks for approx $78k - everyone happy.
My 2012 C2S 991 will be leased again.

 

Dropping $120k on a depreciating asset can hardly be considered financially smart. But the smart move would be to buy a used Honda with cash, and keep the difference invested. (No fun at all!) In order to know what the best “deal” is you really need to run all the numbers for the specific offers available at the time. You also need to have figured out what you intend to do with the car (keep, sell, trade) over the long run. Everyone on the forum is balancing cost, convenience, and desire and the smart decision on lease vs. buy is different for every person.
My understanding with the tax deduction (and I am by no means an expert) is that if you own your own business/company/practice, then the business enters into the lease and the whole thing is deductable. If you are employed and you just drive the car to work, or if you drive the car around for work, then leasing has no tax advantage over buying.

 

That's mostly correct; my LLC is the lease holder; you still have to calculate a % of business vs personal miles though

 

i buy a new car every 6 months to a year at most, and usually break even or make money because i have no financing charges and I always negotiate heavily on the purchase..

i guess if you had to pay finance charges then the lease makes more sense because finance charges rape you...

i honestly would not even own a porsche if i could not buy it outright with cash, as that just seems like a waste of money to pay all that interest on borrowed money to buy a luxury item.. thats like putting a vacation on a CC or something because you cant afford it.

 

You clearly didn't read my post, that's fine. If you were smart about going the cash route though, you wouldnt buy brand new and get a new car every year as you're taking the huge depreciation hit; best bet is to buy CPO

 

Have to agree completely!

 

Do you think she'll approve your numbers??? (I am not sure if she will on mine... )

BTW, how can you "usually" break even or even make money after buying a new car and sell it in 6 mo -1 year? I thought the moment you drive the car out of dealer lot, 15-20% of the value is gone + you have to pay tax & fees....

Can you share the details?

 

Guys - this is not about if you can or cannot afford it - if you can afford a $2k lease per month, i am sure you can afford $120k as a lump sum payment. In my particular case, i put the $120k to work thru investments and actually make more money than the 4-6% i pay in finance charges - it's just a matter of perspective and preference....

Also - i change cars frequently and have limited risk with a lease in comparison to a purchase - again, it's not about if you can afford or not - it's about what else you can do with your money....

BTW - my 2011 BMW 740i and 2012 BMW X5 are all paid for (!)

 

100% agree!

Tom

 

Since this has turned into a lease vs buy discussion, I'll stray from the discussion and answer the OP's question. I'm considering a 991C2S. The base money factor for consumers with a credit score above 740 is .002. Dealers are allowed to charge above this to make a profit on the lease, so you should try to get the base money factor if you can. My purchase price on 2013 Cab with an msrp of $117,555 is $113,000. Again, depending upon the dealer, you should try to negotiate the best price possible. With $5000 down this translates to a lease payment of $1519 per month for 3 years with 10,000 miles per year. The residual for a Cab is 58%, but the residual for a coupe is higher (I think it's 61%), which should result in a somewhat lower lease payment.

I, along with some of the above posters, use my car for business, and I deduct the portion of the lease payment that applies to the business use of my car (about 80 to 90 percent). If I were to purchase the car, I could deduct the annual depreciation of the car. However, the annual depreciation is limited, so the lease payment deduction is far greater than the depreciation deduction. In addition, as a real estate investor, I can earn a much greater return on my investment than the interest I would save by buying the car with cash.

Hopefully, this helps.

 

If you are swapping cars every year. You need to be careful what color you get.
some colors will take a much bigger hit if you try and unload in a year.

 

can not stand that women.