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The one deduction that creates tax-free income instead of just reducing taxed income.
Section 280A(g) — the Augusta Rule, named for the Masters tournament rentals it was written for — excludes ALL rental income when you rent your home fewer than 15 days a year. Business owners use it by renting their home to their own S-corp for legitimate meetings: the corporation deducts the rent, and you receive it tax-free. Fourteen days at a fair-market $1,500/day is $21,000 moved from taxed business income to untaxed personal income — about $6,720 saved at the 32% bracket. The cliff is absolute: hit day 15 and the ENTIRE year's rental income becomes taxable. This calculator prices the benefit and guards the line.
S-corp owners use it when their CPA mentions "rent your house to your business": 14 days at a fair-market rate moves ~$21k from taxed business income to untaxed personal income — and the calculator guards the cliff, because day 15 taxes the whole year.
Yes — §280A(g) has been law since 1976 and applies to any dwelling rented fewer than 15 days. The business version works because your S-corp or partnership is a separate taxpayer: it gets a rent deduction for a real business use (board meetings, planning sessions, client events), and you exclude the income personally. What makes it audit-proof: fair-market rate documented with comparable quotes, minutes and agendas for every meeting, an invoice, and money actually moved between accounts. A Schedule C sole proprietorship can't do this — no separate entity exists to pay you.
The exclusion is all-or-nothing. Days 1–14: not a dollar is reported. Day 15: the ENTIRE year's rental income from that home becomes taxable — not just the excess days. If you genuinely need more rental days, the income converts to normal Schedule E rental income with expenses deducted against it — fine, but plan it as rental income, not as a failed Augusta play.
Fair market value for comparable space: what a hotel meeting room, event venue, or co-working event space charges in your area, adjusted for what your home actually offers. Get 2–3 written quotes and keep them with the invoice. $500–$2,000/day is defensible for most homes; the people who lose in Tax Court charged convention-center rates for a dining room. Each dwelling unit gets its own 14 days — a vacation home is a separate allowance.