Tax Debt Solutions Blog

Can you Claim a Pet Deduction?

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In short, absolutely not. There is no legal way for you to claim a pet deduction on your income taxes. We all love our furry little friends and certainly the government does as well; however there is no quarter given for pet deductions when it comes time to filing taxes. And when you think about it, this is probably a good thing.

One only has to remember the circumstances surrounding the time when you could first start claiming children as deductions to see how this type of policy is ripe for abuse. You see, originally you did not have to use a Social Security number when claiming a child for a deduction. This was largely seen as a flaw in the policy and once the IRS started requiring a Social Security number for children who were used as deductions approximately 7,000,000 children disappeared off the tax rolls as pretend parents found that they no longer had their untraceable and fraudulent deductions available.

There are no such safeguards when it comes to a potential pet deduction policy. As much as we love them pets are not people and therefore do not have Social Security numbers.

Even moving beyond the case of fraud, a pet deduction policy would add in expensive and unnecessary steps for the IRS fraud prevention teams. Could you imagine how complicated audits could become for people who own multiple pets? Not to mention the fact that creating a pet deduction would incentivize people to own animals who have no other interest in the prospect. And let's face it when it comes to animal welfare the last thing we need are more animal owners who don't really want their pets.

Creating a pet deduction is a fun idea that is ultimately flawed and unlikely to ever happen. So for now get used to buying your pet food in bulk and finding savings the old-fashioned way by clipping coupons.