Tax Lawyer and Accountant
Martin M. Shenkman
Looks at RV Business Legal Issues

A tax lawyer and accountant (CPA) looks at legal and financial matters differently than your typical RVer. Attorney Shenkman is here to help with RV business legal issues and to provide tax help.



We are fortunate here at Workers On Wheels to have an attorney and CPA writing articles for us. Guest contributor Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, MBA, PFS, JD, is an accountant and lawyer. His expertise is with tax and legal issues.

So, without further ado, here's the first words from Mr. Shenmkan:

RV Business Issues

by Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, MBA, PFS, JD

Running a business from your RV can be a great way to keep bringing home the bacon, stay active, keep busy, ..., all while enjoying the RV lifestyle. But, don't assume that because it's only a "home" business that you run in your jeans and t-shirt that you can ignore tax, legal, and other formalities. If it's a real business, you need to treat it with the appropriate care or you'll face tax, legal, and other woes. When planning for what might even be a small home/RV business, the rules can be quite complicated.

I'll give you an overview of many of the points you need to consider for an RV business. Then, additional articles will explore many of these issues in greater detail and depth. Each article will try to give you some practical bottom line advice you can use. Some topics:

• Should you set up an entity?
• Uncle Sam Wants You! (to pay your taxes)
• Employee versus independent contractor
• Deductions
• Depreciation
• Recordkeeping
• Insurance

I'll provide a regular column of articles on tax and business planning for RV'ers. Unfortunately, it seems that few tax rules have been written with any focus on the RV industry. The downside is complications and simply weird rules. The upside is that if you pick through the confusion, you might just find some great tax benefits.

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Martin M. Shenkman, CPA, Esq. sponsors a free legal website LawEasy.com. He is a tax lawyer and accountant.

Martin is an RVer with a special cause. He is an avid fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and The Michael J. Fox Foundation For Parkinson's Research. See his RV4TheCure.com website for how you can help him fight MS. Besides RV business tax and legal information, he will share some of his RVing and fundraising experiences with us.

Caution: This article and other columns can never substitute for professional legal, tax, and accounting guidance. These columns can provide only broad general advice, which may not apply to your situation. The rules differ substantially from state to state. Tax, business, and other laws change rapidly over time so there can be no assurance that the information in this column is current. The best approach is to review the ideas in this article with your own CPA and attorney. The application of general tax and legal principles to some of the unique facts presented by RV working is particularly complex and there is little specific law providing guidance to rely upon.



Go to the page listing all articles by tax lawyer and accountant Martin M. Shenkman.

Go from this Tax Lawyer and Accountant page to the Work For RVers And Campers blog.