I spent $1642.02 on game-related material in 2010

[Stormwaltz]

My team lead suggested trying to claim my game purchases as a work related expense, so I spent a couple hours adding up dozens of PayPal receipts and bank statements.

This doesn't include purchases at Best Buy, but those are quite rare these days.

MMORPGs
Account Setups: $142.55 (GW, STO, CoH)
Subnscription Fees: $227.86 (AoC, STO)
RMT Transactions: $ 18.75 (STO)
   TOTAL: $389.41

Digital Distribution Games
Steam: $178.76
Good Old Games: $103.86
Gamersgate: $284.36
Electronic Arts: $40.00
Stardock/Impulse: $9.99
Indie: $113.58
   TOTAL: $730.55

Boxed Games
GoGamer: $321.63
Naval Warfare Simulations: $66.97
Matrix Games: $63.47
   TOTAL: $452.07

Hardware
Newegg.com: $69.99
   TOTAL: $69.99

[Mrbloodworth]

claim my game purchases as a work related expense

YOU CAN DO THAT!!?!?!

* Mrbloodworth looks for receipts....

[Stormwaltz]

I'll tell you after I meet with an accountant at three. But apparently my lead has been for years.

[Chimpy]

claim my game purchases as a work related expense

YOU CAN DO THAT!!?!?!

* Mrbloodworth looks for receipts....

You should be able to. A lot of people I worked with in the theatre business wrote off show tickets. If it is in your specific industry, they basically let you pass off any expenses on that industry as "research".

[Mrbloodworth]

claim my game purchases as a work related expense

YOU CAN DO THAT!!?!?!

* Mrbloodworth looks for receipts....

You should be able to. A lot of people I worked with in the theatre business wrote off show tickets. If it is in your specific industry, they basically let you pass off any expenses on that industry as "research".

I have been telling people "Research" for years!

[ghost]

Only $1642 in a year? 

[Nebu]

Schild will never have to pay taxes EVAR!  

RMT Transactions: $ 18.75 (STO)   

I don't think I'd ever admit this one, even if it did give me a tax break. 

[Stormwaltz]

I've never made any secret of my willingness to buy stupid cosmetic shit. That money went to ship parts, uniform options, and cosmetic outfit slots.

The EA money was all Sims 3 items. That's more humiliating, IMO.

[Nebu]

I've never made any secret of my willingness to buy stupid cosmetic shit. That money went to ship parts, uniform options, and cosmetic outfit slots.

The EA money was all Sims 3 items. That's more humiliating, IMO.

I was just kidding.  I love cosmetic stuff in games.  I've done my share of RMT for similar.  I totally get it.

[Rasix]

I only spent $141 on on Steam.   Probably spent ~$190 on WoW (guessing 10 months subbed, + Cat).   $545 on console games (including DLC) before trade in.  I'm guessing around $50 on iphone games.  Only 9 full price ($40 +) games were purchased (only 1 on Steam).  Nothing for the Wii.  Nothing for the PSP.

So, $926 total.  Total out of pocket was probably closer to $800 with trade-ins included.

Of course, I also spent about $1000 out of pocket on a new PC.

Edit: I think schild has always claimed his gaming purchases.  Or I might be thinking of the entertainment lawyer I know.

[slog]

SCHILD makes enough money to itemize?  I'm surprised that he has that many deductions that exceed the standard deduction.

[ghost]

So, $926 total.

I think I might have beaten this on Steam alone.  


Edit:  This is an interesting topic.  I'm sure Paelos or one of the other CPAs could chime in, but I would see no reason you couldn't take off a reasonable number of games if you could prove they were pertinent to doing research for whatever it is you are doing at work. 

[Furiously]

In that case wouldn't a portion of your Internet bill also be deductible?

[ghost]

In that case wouldn't a portion of your Internet bill also be deductible?

If they work from home they should be able to deduct a determined amount for "home office" expenses, some of which would include internet or any other services that are used in such endeavors.

[Johny Cee]

 

[Paelos]

My thoughts exactly.

[ghost]

You can't deduct home office expenses?

Edit:  And I can deduct for certain educational items like texts or what have you for what I do, so why couldn't a person that makes video games for a living deduct a certain number of the same for business expenses? 

[Paelos]

You can't deduct home office expenses?

You can, but the definition is extremely narrow, and it's subject to an AGI floor.

EDIT: Also, even if you could take games as a biz expense (which I probably couldn't back up as economic reality if you use them for personal entertainment) it would still fall on a 2106 form as unreimbursed employee expenses, subject to 2% of your total AGI before you can take $1.

In short, I wouldn't flag yourself for the audit lottery for an expense you most likely wouldn't get any tangible benefit.

[Ingmar]

This is one of those numbers I have no interest in finding out about myself.

[ghost]

You can't deduct home office expenses?

You can, but the definition is extremely narrow, and it's subject to an AGI floor.

Well, that's why I pay a CPA, because if I didn't I would almost certainly end up in jail.   

[Soln]

let us know if you get an audit

given that home offices get scrutiny, I'd imagine this would as well.  God's speed though.

[Stormwaltz]

The CPA I went to okayed games as an expenditure, though he did note that his office was pretty aggressive about pursuing deductions.

And then to allay my fears, he added that they'd handle any audit. :P

[ghost]

I would be interested to hear from our CPA friends what are some other things that will get the IRS's "radar up" when dealing with deductions.  Honestly, I just do what my CPA says.  She's pretty conservative for the most part and I don't push her too hard.  I don't have a lot of time to pour over this stuff myself, either, to try and pester her about risky deductions. 

[Paelos]

The CPA I went to okayed games as an expenditure, though he did note that his office was pretty aggressive about pursuing deductions.

And then to allay my fears, he added that they'd handle any audit. :P

Of course they will. And when you get audited, they will charge you hourly for the privilege.

Reasonable minds will disagree among CPA's on the rationale for deducting almost anything. However, here's a hint: The government's out of money, and looking to fund a shitload of stuff.

[Stormwaltz]

I'd like to think I'm too small potatoes for them to pursue. I've got a house, a pseudo-wife (filing "head of household"), two kids, and a few hundred dollars in charitable donations. I don't own a business, and I'm still pretty far from a six-digit salary.

If I heard him right, I might get about a $30 deduction out of that. If they'd go after my $30 than General Electric's billions, I think I'd have a reasonable case to question their mental competency.

[Paelos]

Sort of my point. Why open yourself up for the hassle and potential CPA cost of answering an IRS notice for a $30 deduction that will probably net you $7 in tax reduction?

I would never advise a client to do that, just FYI. You're rolling the dice for no gain.

[Furiously]

You're rolling the dice for no gain.

That $7 can buy him a sandwich!

[Ingmar]

If they'd go after my $30 than General Electric's billions, I think I'd have a reasonable case to question their mental competency.

Not necessarily. This argument is sort of akin to the "why does [MMO company] spend so much time on [art] when they should be working on [balance] or [content]?" complaint. It isn't the same people doing it, and while there's an argument to be made for overall resource allocation at a high level, there are always going to be dudes assigned to auditing the small potatoes end of things, and right now they're hungry for french fries.

[Lantyssa]

It can also buy him a game on a Steam sale, for another five cents of deduction!

[Hawkbit]

Not taxes, but insurance story:

When I was 19 or so, my car was broken into and they took my jacket, guitar, amp, cables and roughly 50 CDs.  My insurance agent told me that they can cover the window repair and all items lost except the CDs.  But then he asked me about the guitar and if I had ever made money playing for people.  I told him I was in a band and yes, we do get paid (though we spent all our pay and more on beer at the shows...).  He said "Get me a list of the CDs". 

They actually covered the replacement value of each CD because it was assumed I used the music to learn songs to play at shows.  That wound up being nearly $1000 more than I would have received. 

[ghost]

It can also buy him a game on a Steam sale, for another five cents of deduction!

I think most people around here don't need any reason at all to buy more stuff from Steam.  Except for sinij. 

[schild]

2007 I spent $6,250.xx on games.

I probably still spend about $100 a week, all told on gaming-related entertainment but it's more spread out than every Tuesday/Wednesday now since it's mostly Magic cards and computer stuff/gadgets.

I have bought 2 games in 2011. One of them was returned.

In 2010 I bought 3 games.

Demon's Souls ruined all other games for me.

[Yegolev]

I'm going to pretend this is a general tax thread so that I can ask a question.

I work for HP but am required to go into some business location of Coca-Cola from time to time.  It occurs to me that I might be able to deduct pertinent mileage and prorate car maintenance due to this.  Wondering if it's something I need to look into, or is it likely to be too small of an amount for me to bother with?

[Paelos]

Depends on how much you make and all your other business expenses that are unreimbursed by your employer.

Take the total of what you make for the year and muliply it by 2% just as an estimate. That's the amount you have to have in unreimbursed expenses before you get any deductions.

Example, if I had a client that make $60,000 in a year, his floor is $1,200. If he drove 3000 miles during the year for business (not counting commuter miles to the office) that would be $1,500 applied to the 2% floor.

$1,500 in miles - $1,200 floor = $300 actual deduction

Then, you have to meet the requirements of actually itemizing your deductions rather than taking the standard deduction.

[Yegolev]

Itemization is how I roll.  Otherwise I might not have asked. 

The 2% estimate is a good idea, I will see if I can manage to find that much in expenses.