A way around the waiting list!

[nepatz11]

That is very clever if you have the discipline to pay it right off

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I have to agree that I don't think the OP did anything wrong; as a matter of fact, I do something similar with my credit card--I put basically everything on it, and pay one big bill to my credit card company each month.

Actually, though, come to think of it, the card I do have has a similar feature, and would allow me--if I so chose--to buy tickets to individual games for much lower point totals (anywhere from 10K to 30K per ticket).

 

[JAYHAWKS34]

So your point is that its a great idea, but getting Patriots season tickets now rather than being on a waiting list for 20 years is a waste of a freebie??

no more along the line of to each his own, great idea if thats what you want to use it for

 

[PATRIOT64]

I own my own business but don't use Credit cards much,they are deadly

Just like Randy Moss would say,I use Straight cash homie!

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I got free season tix, and the right to re-buy. Here's how I did it.

If you own your own business, or are decently high up in a company, you should be able to do it. Bank of America has their "patriots visa" credit card, with pats rewards. Once you run 400k through it, you get season tix, as long as you do it in a 3 year timespan. There are other tempting prizes, but hold out for the seasons.
I ran every bill I paid for my business through my card. Just paid with the card, and paid that amount in a check to myself. I would instantly send the check out to pay off the card. Little more work for the accountant, but not too much. After a few months of just dumping money through it, they raised my limit, and kept doing so until the limit on my card reached twenty thousand. At that point, it was easy to rack up 400 thousand.
My tix are nosebleed, but they are on the forty and on the pats sideline. Not bad for nuthin, and no waiting list.

Just figured I'd share in case anyone was unaware of this.

Better talk to a tax lawyer. If the card is in your company's name and the company is your company and you used the card in this way with the expressed and admitted (see above) purpose of gaining a personal benefit, you might have some exposure here (emphasis on "might").

Presumably, you took a tax deduction for those business expenses. Unless you can show that the tix are used for a business-related purpose, the legitimacy of those expenses as a deduction could be called into question. Losing $400k worth of deductions would make those nosebleed seats pretty darn expensive. Assuming youi can get over that hurdle, it could be found that the value of the benefit is taxable. Airline Frequent Flyer benefits for business travel have been considered a "gray area" for a long time. However, this is seldom, if ever, pursued by the IRS because it isn't worth the trouble or time to collect a few hundred or thousand bucks from some Road Warrior.

You probably don't have a problem unless you get audited or somebody who works for you has a grudge against you and drops an anonymous dime on the IRS hotline. My advice: don't tell too many people who know you that you did this and give your accountant a nice bonus and a couple of nice dinners. As I said above, I don't know how this would be adjudicated in the end, but defending your positioin might be expensive.

 

[cartmen]

Better talk to a tax lawyer. If the card is in your company's name and the company is your company and you used the card in this way with the expressed and admitted (see above) purpose of gaining a personal benefit, you might have some exposure here (emphasis on "might").

Presumably, you took a tax deduction for those business expenses. Unless you can show that the tix are used for a business-related purpose, the legitimacy of those expenses as a deduction could be called into question. Losing $400k worth of deductions would make those nosebleed seats pretty darn expensive. Assuming youi can get over that hurdle, it could be found that the value of the benefit is taxable. Airline Frequent Flyer benefits for business travel have been considered a "gray area" for a long time. However, this is seldom, if ever, pursued by the IRS because it isn't worth the trouble or time to collect a few hundred or thousand bucks from some Road Warrior.

This is exactly the reason why nothing will happen to him this is not worth the litigation for the IRS plus its also very easy to prove these are business expenses. Just speaking from my business, how many hard drives and power supplies do I really need in one house hold? If I bought a lot of 50 of each and have all receipts and own a computer sales and service shop its pretty easy to connect the dots that I bought it for my company. As long as he doesnt claim anything on the statement that is clearly not business related he will be fine and his accountant should also be keeping track of this so he doesnt do anything incorrect.

 

[patchick]

The OP makes sense. Plenty of business owners carefully accrue credit card "points" for items of value; this is just the sports fans' version of frequent flier miles. You win, the credit card company wins...and all of your suppliers lose. By charging items to a credit card instead of writing a check, you basically tithed your suppliers 2% on every purchase you made. So they paid $8000 of their money for your nosebleed seats.

Our economy is weird sometimes.

 

[Wildo7]

I like the idea and I don't see anything unethical about it unless using a company card or business checks would have saved more money.

Quick question: don't you have to pay more hours to your compliance officer/tax attorney to sort through expenses this way?

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

So they paid $8000 of their money for your nosebleed seats.

Yup -- I originally thought the OP said it was an Amex, which would be closer to 4 percent, but it looks like it's B of A, so probably visa or MC. I'm sure that the Patriots get some of this back from the credit card company -- either in concessions, straight payments for the tickets, or advertising deals or something.

And Congress has basically endorsed the whole deal by saying that vendors can't discriminate or charge a surcharge for those who pay with credit cards.

All that said, I guess I understand. The credit card banks and companies are basically arranging for people to have immediate access to free money and up to a month of float if they pay off immediately, which is a pretty cool thing. The whole system would never work if the buyer had to pay extra to use the credit card, so I guess the vendor is stuck.

 

[mgcolby]

Well, bully for you. You found a way to sleaze into season tickets by using the card in a way that was not intended. I'm sure the folks at the top of the waiting list who've been waiting patiently the last few years will appreciate that.

Wow, are you always a bitter man?

 

[alamo]

Unless you can show that the tix are used for a business-related purpose, the legitimacy of those expenses as a deduction could be called into question. Losing $400k worth of deductions would make those nosebleed seats pretty darn expensive. Assuming you can get over that hurdle, it could be found that the value of the benefit is taxable.

Absolute nonsense. A dachshundt could get over that hurdle. The use of the benefit has no bearing at all on the legitimacy of the deduction for the purchases on the card.

You are correct the benefit could be taxable, but that is a gray area and unlikely (as you say) to be pursued. Taxing executive benefits is a big area of interest to the IRS but things like underallocation of personal miles on company cars costs them much more money than this sort of thing. My wife is a CPA and has approved (and done the taxes returns for) similar funnelling of company expenses through credit card rewards programs.

 

[neuronet]

If I had that kind of money I'd just buy season tickets using my back room negotiating ninja skills.

Is the original poster named John McCain? :singing:

 

[Pujo]

Well, bully for you. You found a way to sleaze into season tickets by using the card in a way that was not intended. I'm sure the folks at the top of the waiting list who've been waiting patiently the last few years will appreciate that.

Jealous are we?

 

[ShrewBeer]

To answer a few questions,

-Yes, I can rebuy the tix from the pats without having to get points every year. Thats one of the reasons why It costs so many points.

-2 seats, sect 311

-Yes, the accountant *****ed at me quite a bit, but as she is paid on part time salary, it didnt cost any more money. Nothing illegal.

-It was a wicked pain in the ass to write additional checks and run to deposit them so the credit card would be paid off right away, So I dont plan on doing it again. I've got my tix.

-No, I am not rich. The company does operate on a goal of 30% profit, and 400k in expenses is pretty easy to rack up. (30% profit does not go into my pocket. payroll comes out of that)

On a side note, the other option for that many points was to go to an away game with the team. team bus/plane to and from the game, etc... was tempting, but the season tix for life were pretty hard to pass up for one opportunity of a lifetime.

 

[Ring 6]

Better talk to a tax lawyer. If the card is in your company's name and the company is your company and you used the card in this way with the expressed and admitted (see above) purpose of gaining a personal benefit, you might have some exposure here (emphasis on "might").

Presumably, you took a tax deduction for those business expenses. Unless you can show that the tix are used for a business-related purpose, the legitimacy of those expenses as a deduction could be called into question. Losing $400k worth of deductions would make those nosebleed seats pretty darn expensive. Assuming youi can get over that hurdle, it could be found that the value of the benefit is taxable. Airline Frequent Flyer benefits for business travel have been considered a "gray area" for a long time. However, this is seldom, if ever, pursued by the IRS because it isn't worth the trouble or time to collect a few hundred or thousand bucks from some Road Warrior.

You probably don't have a problem unless you get audited or somebody who works for you has a grudge against you and drops an anonymous dime on the IRS hotline. My advice: don't tell too many people who know you that you did this and give your accountant a nice bonus and a couple of nice dinners. As I said above, I don't know how this would be adjudicated in the end, but defending your positioin might be expensive.

The deductiblity of the expenses has nothing to do with the perk her recieves for using the credit card.
If his business is home building and he puts the cost of materials on the credit card or pays cash it makes no difference to the deductibility.
The fact that by paying on the credit card earns him something from the credit card has nothing to do with the nature of the expense.
I would assume the value of the tickets would be declarable as income, but the deductions would not be affected.

 

[Ring 6]

no more along the line of to each his own, great idea if thats what you want to use it for

How is that consistent with your original post that this is about the worst idea you have ever heard?

 

[JoeSixPat]

I got free season tix, and the right to re-buy. Here's how I did it.

If you own your own business, or are decently high up in a company, you should be able to do it. Bank of America has their "patriots visa" credit card, with pats rewards. Once you run 400k through it, you get season tix, as long as you do it in a 3 year timespan. There are other tempting prizes, but hold out for the seasons.
I ran every bill I paid for my business through my card. Just paid with the card, and paid that amount in a check to myself. I would instantly send the check out to pay off the card. Little more work for the accountant, but not too much. After a few months of just dumping money through it, they raised my limit, and kept doing so until the limit on my card reached twenty thousand. At that point, it was easy to rack up 400 thousand.
My tix are nosebleed, but they are on the forty and on the pats sideline. Not bad for nuthin, and no waiting list.

Just figured I'd share in case anyone was unaware of this.

not sure why everyone's down on this guy for the suggestion - there's lots of small businesses out there that could benefit from this... having Patriots tickets can be a big asset to anyone in sales as well.

For my part I think I'll apply, ask them to raise my credit limit, buy 400 big screen TVs at Walmart, get my season tickets, and return them all within their liberal 90 day return policy.

You just gotta figure out how to make this work for you!

 

[BradyFTW!]

How many people here have actually run a business? If you haven't, don't talk about how he took the easy way out, or how he's some fat cat executive. I also run a small business of my own, and it's a difficult, uncertain job that never stops. Small business owners are pretty much on the clock all the time. Congrats on getting your season tickets, ShrewBeer- make sure that you take that time every Sunday to stop thinking about your business and just unwind and watch a great game.

 

[patchick]

not sure why everyone's down on this guy for the suggestion - there's lots of small businesses out there that could benefit from this... having Patriots tickets can be a big asset to anyone in sales as well.

Interesting point. And if the *company* keeps the season tickets the *company* earned, that gets you out of transfer fees, etc. Whoever owns the company owns the seats.

 

[Tunescribe]

Jealous are we?

No, I've had season tickets since 1994. I just take a dim view of how the OP went about it, as I know folks who've been on the waiting list for years. But I'm in the apparent minority here so I'll keep it to myself.