Tax Write-Off for Club Membership?

[OhMyGators]

4 of us that work together joined a private club a year ago under a corporate membership. The idea was that we could write off the monthly dues as a business expense since, as far as anyone needs to know, the membership is primarily used to entertain clients and prospective clients. Our accountant says we can't deduct club dues at all and for guest fees we can only deduct 50% of the amount. Any accountants here or corporate members that can confirm this? Are there any creative ways to structure the membership either individually or through the business that reduce the net cost?

[mjbfyb]

Straight from the source (towards the bottom).

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch02.html

You can deduct it from the company if you count it as income on your personal return I believe.

[jptruck]

A friend got audited, and subsequently busted for doing this. He had to pay back taxes and fines. Listen to your CPA

[joey2aces]

[color=#282828]4 of us that work together joined a private club a year ago under a corporate membership. The idea was that we could write off the monthly dues as a business expense since, [/color][color="#ff0000"]as far as anyone needs to know, [/color]
[size=4]I know we all like to save money and hate to pay taxes but is it really worth messing with the IRS after everything that has been going on?? For all we know the keystrokes you... or we, just made were red flags and they are reading this thread.... [/size] [size=4] [/size]

[oldpalchamp]

Your accountant is correct. Club dues used to be deductable as a business expense, but that changed when they changed the tax code in 1986.

[OhMyGators]

Thanks for the responses. I've done a bit of internet research. As some of you have pointed out, it's pretty clear that country club dues are not deductible. So if I take a client golfing and I'm not charged a guest fee for my client because of my corporate membership, there's no deduction at all. However, if I take a client golfing at another course and pay for greens fees for both myself and the client, those expenses are deductible (50%). Seems like purely from a tax standpoint you're better off not joining a club and just paying for your client's golf at daily fee courses. Interesting.

[vtnerf]

^^^I think this is why Aflac "joined forces" with the TPC courses to provide discounted rates at all of their courses. There is not a membership per se, just reduced greens fees for everyone playing if with one of the higher up in the Aflac structure.

[MarkCPA]

Your CPA is 100% correct.

[Jolly Golfer]

I'm a CPA, and all of the above is correct. You used to be able to deduct the dues, but no more. And yes, for business purposes, you are better off not joining a club and just taking the 50% M&E deduction for playing at a high end public course.

[teejaywhy]

An interesting topic. As I understand it, the IRS changed the rules in the mid-80's. Prior to that, club membership had been deductible as a business expense. The new rules allow deduction of a round of golf (similar to meals & entertainment expenses). These tax changes launched a wave of construction of upscale public daily fee courses also known as the "country club for a day."

[Truman]

Normally the objective of corporate memberships is used as a way to waive the initiation fee to the business. At our course corporate members are not allowed to play together or before noon on weekends and holidays. This helps avoid people trying to commit fraud on the club by claiming to be a business.