Claim paintings as furnishings for STR for Schedule C?

[Angelo Cortez]

Hi BP Community,

I collect paintings. Paid ~3.5k of paintings last year. If I put them in my STR, can I write them off on my Schedule C?

[Kory Reynolds]

You also need to consider the paintings - to the point of @Michael Plaks, if you could have picked up a bunch of prints from Hobby Lobby to decorate the place - why did you do the $3,500 options? Perhaps it is a high end rental with tenants with certain expectations?  Or did you just want these paintings and parking them in you rental for a couple years seemed like a good way to get a tax write off?

While there have been many taxpayer friendly rulings in this area, be aware that the IRS has challenged the deduction of artwork in the past.  Tax Adviser has a great read on the topic, linked below, fairly technical, but gives you an idea that it may not be as black and white.

https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2012/aug/clinic-story-0...