Los Angeles California Tax Attorney Blog
Los Angeles Tax Attorney: Last week’s firestorm regarding Sarah Palin’s wardrobe expenses generated several calls regarding tax implications or tax problems for Governor Palin stemming from her $150,000.00 clothing shopping spree.
Politics aside (Democrats position: $150,000 for clothes…she’s no Josephine Six Pack, Republicans Position: Remember John Edwards $400 hair cut), from an IRS tax perspective, it may be a non issue. (United States Tax Court US TAX COURT holds the jurisdiction to resolve any tax problems that may arise out of Palin’s tax situation.)
Uniforms provided by employers for business use are not taxable to the employee. I’m not sure if Sarah Palin is “employed” by the Republican Party because she is still the governor of Alaska. It may be possible that she is employed by both entities. Regardless, Palin’s clothing from Neiman Marcus and Saks 5th Avenue probably would not constitute “uniform” as defined by the IRS TAX CODE Although if RNC argued that all female members of the party must wear certain type of Valentino or Armani in red or black while on stage to campaign, it may have a plausible counter argument if such clothing items were not usable for ordinary wear.