Self employed personal purchases vehicle for business. Can the retail sales tax be claimed as an expense.

[AHMiah1]

No, the retail sales tax wouldn't necessarily be treated as an expense. The HST paid on the vehicle may be used to offset any HST owed from your business. The vehicle itself may be treated as a capital expense and its value depreciated over time.  You should also take into account that you may need to track when you use the vehicle for business and personal use since you can only deduct business-related expenses and not personal. If you'd like to know more about claiming automobile expenses and what motor vehicle expenses self-employed people can claim, here are two great TurboTax articles. 

Thank you for choosing TurboTax.

[AHMiah1]

No, the retail sales tax wouldn't necessarily be treated as an expense. The HST paid on the vehicle may be used to offset any HST owed from your business. The vehicle itself may be treated as a capital expense and its value depreciated over time.  You should also take into account that you may need to track when you use the vehicle for business and personal use since you can only deduct business-related expenses and not personal. If you'd like to know more about claiming automobile expenses and what motor vehicle expenses self-employed people can claim, here are two great TurboTax articles. 

[AHMiah1]

Thank you for choosing TurboTax.