Taxes are the worst. They’re completely necessary for society, but really they are the worst. It’s rare to find someone that actually wants to pay more to the federal government. In fact, most people are always looking for ways to pay fewer taxes. Here are ten tax loopholes that you can use to help lower your tax burden.

It’s important to remember that taxes and the associated loopholes are incredibly complicated, and this article is not advice. I’m not a tax expert, so make sure you check with someone who is before trying any of these out.

10 Saver’s Tax Credit

The Saver’s Tax Credit is a credit available to low- and moderate-income taxpayers who save for retirement. The amount of the credit is 50%, 20%, or 10% of your retirement plan or IRA contribution, up to $2,000 ($4,000 if married filing jointly).

To be eligible for the full 50% credit, your adjusted gross income must be $30,000 or less. If your AGI is between $30,000 and $40,000, you are eligible for a 20% credit. And if your AGI is $40,000 or more, you are only eligible for a 10% credit.

The great thing about this tax credit is that you can take the Saver’s Tax Credit whether you itemize deductions or take the standard deduction.

9 HSA to Pay Medical Bills

If you have a high-deductible health plan, you can use a Health Savings Account (HSA) to pay for medical bills. You can make tax-deductible contributions to your HSA. The funds can then be used to pay for qualified medical expenses tax-free.

You can withdraw money from your HSA to pay for medical expenses at any time. And if you don’t use the funds in a particular year, the money can be carried over to the next year.

An HSA might be a great account to have, but it isn’t for everyone. Are you generally in good health and want to set up more of a rainy day medical or plan for your retirement? Ask yourself this question before you decide if a Health Savings Account is the right choice for you.

Benefits of an HSA:

• Tax-deductible contributions
• Triple tax savings: contributions, interest, and earnings are all tax-free when used for qualified medical expenses
• It can be used to pay for current and future medical expenses
• No use-it-or-lose-it rule: funds can be carried over from year to year

8 Bad Debt Deduction

If you have debt that you are unable to collect, you can deduct the amount of the debt as a bad debt deduction. Originally this loophole was meant just for businesses to be able to write off any bad debt they have. But thanks to the generic wording used, anyone can deduct the cost of bad debt.

To be eligible for the deduction, the debt must be an actual debt and not a gift. And you must have made a reasonable attempt to collect the debt. To be honest, this seems like a great way to cut some of the dead weight out of your life.

Here’s how to use this deduction:

• It needs to be money that was already reported in your income or was cash you had lying around.
• Once you decide the debt is worthless, no court date is required. You can take the deduction that year.
• Report it as a short-term capital loss

If you have any questions, talk to your tax preparer or accountant, and they can help get you the proper forms and proof needed to make a claim.

7 Gambling Deduction

If you like to gamble, you can deduct your gambling losses up to the amount of your winnings. It sounds like a nice way to make up for that losing weekend in Vegas to me.

The downside is that this deduction is only available if you itemize deductions. And you will need documentation of your wins and losses. And it’s possible that the deduction won’t save you any money if you don’t have a lot of other deductions.

Keep that in mind if you are considering using this deduction. You’d need to have more than $12.5K if you are single or $25.1K if you are married filing jointly.

6 Home Office Deduction

You’re not a stay-at-home parent with an Etsy shop. You are an e-commerce company with a small national team. And because you choose to be a fully remote company, part of your home is used for business purposes. You can deduct the portion of your rent or mortgage interest, insurance, and utilities that go toward running that business.

To be eligible for the deduction, you must use the area regularly and consistently for business.

Using the home office deduction can be a great way to save money on taxes. It looks like it might be time to put that guest bedroom to work for you instead of waiting for it to be used once a year by your in-laws.

Talking to a tax expert about what your business could also open the door to many other deductions. In some circumstances, even your landscaping could be deductible.

5 Try The Ol’ Roth IRA Backdoor Switch-a-Roo

If you make too much money to contribute to a Roth IRA directly, you can still get the benefits of a Roth IRA by contributing to a traditional IRA and then converting it to a Roth IRA.

This loophole is often referred to as the Roth IRA backdoor.

To be eligible for the conversion, you must hold the traditional IRA for at least five years. And you will owe taxes on the amount that you convert. Getting the benefits after five years will be worth it, though. Remember, these are the benefits you get once it’s a Roth IRA.

• Both the growth and the withdrawals are tax-free
• Your heirs can inherit the money tax-free if you do it right
• Your contributions can be withdrawn without penalties.
• Almost anyone can contribute to a Roth IRA
• No required distributions

4 Go Ahead and Write Off That Pool for Medical Reasons

Have you always wanted to have a personal pool? This might be the way to do it. First, you need to have a doctor prescribe swimming as a way to treat either a medical condition or illness. The types of illnesses and conditions that will get you a doctor’s approval are the ones that hydrotherapy treats well. These could include the following:

• Severe Arthritis
• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic Pain
• Chronic Heart Failure

Make sure that you hold onto all of the documentation since the IRS will look into it, and you will have to prove that the pool wasn’t for general exercise or personal use. If you do manage to get a prescription, then the construction costs and the maintenance costs for your pool can be deducted.

3 A Pass-Through Business

If you are self-employed, you can set up a pass-through business to reduce your taxes. A pass-through business is where the income from the business is passed through to the owner and taxed at the owner’s personal tax rate, which is usually lower.

The most common type of pass-through business is a sole proprietorship. But there are also other types, such as S corporations and partnerships. Be sure to talk to an accountant to see if setting up a pass-through business is the right move for you.

2 Give to Charity Freely—It Helps Them and You

If you donate to charity, you can deduct all or most of the amount of your donation from your taxes. Different types of charities have varying percentages that you can deduct from your adjusted gross income. For example, if you donate cash to a public charity, you can deduct up to 50% of your adjusted gross income. But if you donate property, such as a car or a boat, you can deduct the full market value of the property.

There are some things that you need to keep in mind when giving to charity, though:

• The charity must be qualified as a tax-exempt organization by the revenue code.
• You need to document all of your contributions, and if a donation is not made in cash and worth more than $5000, you have to have it appraised
• Unless you’re itemizing, you can only deduct $300 if you’re single or $600 as a couple.

1 Got My 529 Savings—Watchout Private Schools

If you have children, you can save for their education with a 529 plan. Contributions you make to a 529 savings plan are not tax-deductible. But the earnings in the account are not taxed when you pay for any qualified education expenses. Qualified education expenses include the following:

• Tuition
• Fees
• Books
• Room and board

One of the best-kept secrets of the 529 plan is that it doesn’t have to be used solely for your kid’s college. You can also use it to pay for a private school anytime from kindergarten to 12th grade. You can take out up to $10,000 for tuition per student tax-free. That’s pretty cool!

In an effort to save on their taxes, some crafty business owners can and will attempt to write off anything and everything that could even faintly be considered a business expense. Tax officials typically don’t consider these write-offs eligible—or even legal, in most cases—but that did not stop these people from trying.

The items on this list can’t be used by everybody, though. These are very specific cases. Everyone can and should speak with their tax advisor to see what specific things you can and cannot deduct from your taxes and expenses so that you don’t get caught in hot water! So with that in mind, here are ten strange tax deductions and write-offs that some people can and have claimed.

10 Baby Oil

Baby oil is for babies, right? It’s used to moisturize their diaper area to prevent rashes and the like. Did you know bodybuilders love it too? When they show off their years of work at bodybuilding shows, that isn’t just sweat that makes them appear wet and shiny. They use baby oil to make their muscles glisten under the stage lights.

For some bodybuilders, the prize earnings at these shows are their primary source of income, and one key part of their success is the oil they use. Because of this, some bodybuilders have gotten away with writing off their bulk purchases of baby oil as a business expense! By extension, they were also able to write off gym memberships, exercise equipment, and protein supplements.

9 Regular Meals

You may have heard of offices regularly taking business lunches, then writing off those meals as a business expense. After all, “work” still gets “done” while the participants eat. Sharing a meal is a great way to build good relationships with clients and partners.

But one woman, a real estate broker, tried to claim a tax deduction on regular meals that she went out to eat alone at restaurants. She reasoned that while she went out on her lunch break, she still had her nametag on, so strangers (or potential clients) could come up to her and ask questions about her work while she ate. This didn’t work, as her tax advisor had some simple advice for her—take off the nametag!

8 Home Office Spaces

Everyone would prefer to work from home—you’re closer to family and the comforts of home, and you save a ton of time, money, and gas by cutting a commute out of your daily life. However, there’s a way to save even more money.

If you’re so committed to working from home that you’ve made a personal working space, whether that’s your garage or office, you can write off the maintenance of that space! For example, let’s say that your office makes up ten percent of your home. That means you can claim that ten percent of your utilities—gas, heating, air conditioning, electricity, internet, and even landscaping—counts as a business expense! That doesn’t sound like a bad idea!

7 Pet Food & Supplies

Many of us love animals so much that we bring them into our homes, and some even call their pets their “furry little children.” Depending on the circumstances, they can also be little tax deductions! From a pest-killing cat to a sheepdog, if your pet serves a purpose for your business, they and the supplies needed to care for them count as business expenses. And these roles can be just about anything—mascot, guard dog, emotional support pig—there are plenty of options to discuss with your tax advisor.

This tax loophole applies in another way. If you find a job that requires you to move to a new home, you can write off your pets and their supplies as a business expense. The reasoning here is that the move may be unexpected, and it can be a pain to move your vital business associates (your animals) to a new home, especially if it takes time for them to adjust to their new surroundings.

6 Motorcycle

A motorcycle seems like a total luxury vehicle, right? They’re fast, loud, and made to show off. They can also be very expensive with all the delicate tuning and maintenance needed to care for them. And though insurance for motorcycles is generally cheaper, you’re still taking a risk every time you get on your bike.

However, if it’s your main mode of transportation (or makes up more than fifty percent of your daily commute), you can write it off as a travel business expense. So, sure! Go ahead and show off that hog to your boss and coworkers—just be sure to wear a helmet!

5 Breast Implants

After reading about bodybuilders with baby oil and business owners with guard dogs, some of you out there with less common jobs may be reading this article and wondering, “What can I write off that’s specific to my line of work?”

Well, here’s another story that might inspire an idea—an exotic dancer named Chesty Love managed to get a tax deduction from her multiple breast augmentation surgeries! In a total power move, she represented herself in court and argued that her breast implants should be a business expense because she found that the larger her chest got, the more customers she drew in!

4 Swimming Pool

There’s no way someone got a break for this one, right? A below-ground swimming pool is a luxury—as much as everyone would like to have one in their backyard, no one desperately needs a swimming pool! Right?

Actually, if you can convince the IRS that your swimming pool is a medical necessity, the pool and the expenses for maintaining it can be deducted as a medical expense. Some conditions, like osteoarthritis, require submersion for treatment, and a swimming pool or hot tub is perfect for that. Plus, it’s a nice cherry on top if you also want to host parties for your family or neighborhood.

3 Hiring Children as Employees

Ah, nepotism—a specific kind of privilege that’s irritating for many. These days, the only thing that qualifies a person for a high-end job or access to prestigious schooling is a blood relation to someone’s rich mom or dad.

Say what you want about it, but the American business world actively encourages nepotism—even for smaller businesses. If you hire your kid and they make less than a certain amount, they don’t have to worry about taxes taken off their payroll, nor are they required to file taxes! This is a huge benefit for young people and the parents that hire them. Not only do they make a good amount of tax-free money (that’s probably way better than the typical allowance), the experience gives them a head start on the rest of their lives.

For the parent that hires them, who’s better to hire than a person you know better than themselves? There’s already a lot of trust and expectation established by their familial relationship—a parent knows their child’s limits, strengths, and how well their personality would mesh with customers—which should make for a great employee. Maybe, if it’s done right, nepotism isn’t all bad.

2 Haircuts

Appearances are important, and we should care about our grooming habits, as it expresses to others that we have respect for ourselves and societal norms. But like anything in life, maintaining our appearance costs money, and money means taxes—we all get haircuts, and we all pay taxes on them—except for some.

This is another one of those really specific write-offs with which only a certain privileged few can get away—and who’s more privileged than former president Donald J. Trump? When his finances were investigated during his term, they found that he managed to write off a whopping $70,000 dollars… just for maintaining his ridiculous hair. And it wasn’t just for haircuts—we’re talking tax-free gels, sprays, dyes, and anti-balding treatments.

How did he get away with it? Because they were expenses for his number one money maker: his public appearance.

1 Criminal Activity

This one isn’t so much an item as a bizarre truth for criminals. Any amount of money earned through criminal activity is taxable. That’s pretty unexpected—bank robbers are expected to pay taxes on the money they stole!

Crazier still, if the money earned through criminal activity is taxed, it is also, therefore, tax deductible! The same rules apply to business expenses even if a business is illegitimate. This means that anything that a criminal (legally) purchases to promote or benefit their (illegal) business is granted as a deduction.

For example, a drug dealer can technically write off the guns and ammunition they buy to guard their product as a business expense! But make no mistake, the money that criminals could save if they tried this would pale in comparison to bail or punitive fees if they’re caught and convicted. Plus, one could imagine it would be very difficult to be a tax-paying criminal for an extended period, as keeping a record of one’s taxes and expenditures is the very definition of a paper trail.

Never forget that Al Capone, world-famous American mobster, was finally convicted of tax evasion.