Can House Painting Cost Be Tax Deductible?

​​Painting your house, whether it is interior painting or exterior painting, can get really costly. The cost of paint and the amount of paint needed is enough to detract people from embarking on a house painting project. However, paints don’t just beautify homes, it is also essential to protect the quality of the house. So, when a house painting job is necessary, it would be nice if there would be ways of reducing costs without having to skimp on the quality of the paint to be used. One way costs in home renovations can be reduced is if it is deducted from taxes.
 
Unfortunately, house painting, much like other home repairs, is not tax deductible. The only time repainting your house becomes tax deductible is if it becomes part of the capital improvement of your house after it has been damaged in a fire or natural disaster. Even this does not mean that you can include the cost of the house painting job in your annual filing of tax deductions. You can only use this when you sell your house because it will form part of the original value of your home.   

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So, what is the capital improvement and in what way can you use it to deduct the cost of house painting from your taxes?
 
This is actually a roundabout way of getting tax deductions for your house painting because you can only use this when the time comes for you to sell your house as an addition to your cost basis rather than as tax deductions in your annual filing. Still, it saves a lot of money so it’s worth learning about.
 
Capital improvements are additions or alteration to real property that either substantially adds value or prolongs the useful life of the house, becomes part of the house in such a way that would cause material damage if it were removed, or intended to be a permanent installation. This means that the work done in your home is substantial enough that it becomes a part of the real property. An example of capital improvement are installing kitchen cabinets, replacing the roof, adding a bedroom and more.
 
Capital improvements are beneficial when you want to make your house look nicer and add more value to it as you are selling it in order to get a greater price for the house. For example, building a deck around the house will increase its value.
 
Unfortunately, painting is still not covered in the capital gains of the house. The only circumstance wherein house painting can be included in the capital improvement is when the house burned down or there had been a natural calamity which destroyed. Here, the homeowner is forced to rebuild the house or restore it to its original condition, including the house painting.

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​Exceptions
 
Exceptions to this rule are when you use your house as a home office or when you are renting out the house. Repainting a home office can be deducted as a business expense but only for the portion which you use as the home office. So, when you repaint your entire house, the deductible portion only corresponds to the proportion of the home office.
 
For houses that are being rented out, everything you do to manage, conserve, maintain, or repair the house becomes tax deductible.

Ways of Reducing Cost in your House Painting Project

• Shop around

Different painters have different capabilities and so different pricing for the job that they do. When you’re pondering on a painting job for your house, look at several contractors or painters, some painter somewhere will offer you a lower price for the same amount of work. Of course, this goes without saying that you still have to look into the quality of work produced by the low-cost painter you have just found.

• Repaint before visible signs of wear begin to appear

This is because when there are already portions of the wall with peeling or flaking paint, it takes a significantly larger amount of time to do the painting job correctly because it takes more time to prepare the surface for the paint to adhere. You’ll want your new coat of paint to adhere to the wall well so that you can save future costs of repainting. This then drives up the cost of labor, which is the biggest cost in house painting.

• Do-it-yourself

As mentioned in the previous item, labor costs constitute the biggest cost in house painting. This means that if you can do the job yourself, you’d save tons in the painting job.

• Mind the paint colors

Colors affect painting job so much that a lot of thought has to go into choosing it. For one thing, you’ll want the paint colors to be ones you actually like. Then of course, you’d want them to be pleasing to your visitors and to harmonize with all the other things in your home. And, perhaps more importantly, you want to think about the paint colors because they affect the cost of the painting job. For example, a repainting job using just the same color can save you a coat of paint, hence, lesser cost. Another thing you have to think about when choosing colors is that using too many colors in your house painting job will increase the labor cost because painters will have to switch from one color to another. Some great house colors that are commonly used in Georgia are autumn red, cypress blue, and desert tan.

• Don’t skip the primer

Walls absorb paint and when you don’t use primers on your wall before painting, the wall will absorb a large proportion of your paint. Primers are way cheaper that paint, so better for the wall to absorb the primer than that expensive paint. In addition to that, primers also allow for a uniform coverage of the primed surface.

• Use good quality paint

Using cheaper paints does not actually save house painting costs. If you want to save on the cost of a painting job, a good quality paint will reduce your costs because it is a lot more durable than its cheaper alternative and it will only require fewer coats in order to cover the entire surface.
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So, house painting is definitely an expensive endeavor for homeowners and its cost is cannot be directly deducted from your taxes. Still, there are a myriad of ways to reduce the cost of house painting. Since labor costs have the highest proportion of that expense, it is then advisable to reduce that cost as much as you can. For one thing, you can reduce the cost by doing the painting job yourself, or if you’re not so confident about your house painting skills, you can do some parts of the job which wouldn’t show in the final output such as painting the primer. This not only saves you the cost of labor, but using primers also save you the cost of using too many paints.

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Painters in Warner Robins, GA / Painters in Macon GA and adjacent areas

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If you need a reputable house painting professionals in Warner Robins, Macon region who understand the needs of their clients look no further. Contact the experts at Pizzazz Painters Warner Robins.
Check us at https://www.pizzazzpainterswarnerrobins.com/ and schedule your appointment for a free painting estimate or call us at 478-292-2821. We are here to help!

​Painters proudly serving in Warner Robins, Macon, Bonaire, Byron, Kathleen, Lizella, Perry, Fort Valley
Bibb County Georgia, Houston County Georgia, Peach County Georgia, Macon County Georgia, Crawford County Georgia.

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