Can You Deduct Dog Boarding or Daycare on Your Taxes?
For a family pet, no: dog boarding, daycare and pet sitting are personal expenses and aren't tax deductible. The main exception is a service animal: the IRS lets you include the costs of maintaining a guide dog or other service animal as medical expenses if you itemize and your medical costs exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income. Animals used in a business may follow business expense rules.
Many owners hope doggy daycare works like child care for tax purposes. It doesn't: tax benefits for care expenses apply to qualifying people, not pets.
Pet care costs and taxes
| Situation | Boarding / daycare deductible? |
|---|---|
| Family pet | No; personal expense |
| Service animal for a disability | Maintenance costs may count as medical expenses (itemized, above 7.5% of AGI) |
| Animal used in a business | Possibly, as a business expense, depending on the facts |
| Foster animals for a qualified charity | Unreimbursed care costs may be charitable contributions (Van Dusen v. Commissioner) |
This is general information; ask a tax professional about your own situation.
Service animals
The IRS says you can include in medical expenses "the costs of buying, training, and maintaining a guide dog or other service animal" for a person with a visual, hearing or other physical disability, including costs that keep the animal healthy enough to do its job, like food, grooming and veterinary care. Whether boarding is a qualifying maintenance cost depends on the circumstances, so keep records and ask a tax professional. Two limits apply: you must itemize deductions, and only medical expenses above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income count. Emotional support animals don't qualify as service animals.
Business animals
If a dog genuinely works in your business, such as a guard dog for business premises, its care costs may be business expenses. A pet that keeps you company while you work from home doesn't qualify.
Fostering
In Van Dusen v. Commissioner, the Tax Court allowed a volunteer who fostered cats for a qualified charity to deduct unreimbursed costs of caring for them as charitable contributions. If you board or care for foster animals at your own expense, keep receipts and get written acknowledgment from the organization.
Is dog daycare a child care expense?
No. The child and dependent care credit applies to care for qualifying people, not animals.
See are vet visits tax deductible and find dog daycare and pet boarding near you.
Sources
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This article is general information for pet owners, not veterinary, legal or financial advice. Prices vary by city and clinic; always ask your veterinarian or provider about your own pet.