Lawn Care Tax Deductions in PA

"Can I write off my lawn care?" We hear this question every spring—usually from business owners and landlords who are already thinking about their next tax return. The short answer: sometimes yes, sometimes no, and the difference comes down to how you use the property.

If you're a homeowner maintaining your personal residence, the answer is almost always no. But if you're a landlord, a business owner, or a commercial property manager, there are real deductions available—and they can add up fast. Let's walk through each scenario.

Scenario 1: Your Personal Home

Can you deduct lawn care on your personal residence? In most cases, no. The IRS considers lawn mowing, fertilization, and general landscape maintenance on your primary home to be personal expenses—just like grocery shopping or getting a haircut.

There are no federal tax deductions for keeping your yard looking nice just because you live there. Even if your HOA requires professional maintenance, that doesn't change its classification for tax purposes.

Scenario 2: Home Office

If you operate a legitimate home office and take the home office deduction, you may be able to deduct a proportional share of your landscaping costs—but it's a stretch for most people.

The logic works like this: if your home office makes up 15% of your home's total square footage, you could theoretically deduct 15% of your landscape maintenance as a business expense. But there are important caveats:

• Your home office must be used regularly and exclusively for business (IRS requirement)
• You must use the regular method of calculating the home office deduction—the simplified method ($5/sq ft, max $1,500) doesn't allow separate landscaping deductions
• The deduction is proportional, so you're typically talking about a small dollar amount
• This is one of those gray areas that could trigger scrutiny, so document everything

Bottom line: If you already take a home office deduction using the regular method, ask your CPA whether your lawn care qualifies. For most people working from home, this isn't worth the hassle.

Scenario 3: Rental Properties

This is where it gets good. If you own rental property—whether it's a single duplex in Greensburg or a portfolio of units across Westmoreland County—lawn care and landscaping maintenance are generally deductible as ordinary business expenses on Schedule E.

These expenses are deducted in the year they're incurred as operating expenses. They reduce your rental income, which directly reduces your tax liability. If you spend $3,600 per year on a mowing contract for a rental property (that's $300/month—pretty typical for a small-to-mid residential property around here), that entire amount is a write-off against your rental income.

Maintenance vs. Improvement: A Critical Distinction

The IRS draws a hard line between maintenance (deductible in the current year) and improvements (capitalized and depreciated over time). Here's how it breaks down for landscaping:

Pro tip for landlords: Landscaping improvements to rental properties are generally depreciated over 15 years (per IRS guidelines for land improvements). That's different from the building itself (27.5 years for residential). However, under Section 179 or bonus depreciation rules, some improvements may qualify for accelerated deduction. This is exactly the kind of thing your CPA should weigh in on.

Scenario 4: Commercial Properties

If you own or manage a commercial property—office park, retail plaza, HOA common area, industrial facility—all landscape maintenance is a standard business expense, fully deductible in the year incurred. This is the most straightforward scenario.

Commercial property landscaping expenses include:

• Mowing, edging, and trimming contracts
• Snow and ice management programs
• Seasonal color rotations and annual plantings
• Irrigation system maintenance (not installation—that's an improvement)
• Tree care and canopy management
• Parking lot sweeping and leaf removal
• Pest and weed control programs

Large-scale landscape improvements (new installations, hardscape projects, stormwater systems) are treated like any other capital improvement—capitalized and depreciated over their useful life.

Scenario 5: Self-Employed / Business at Your Property

If you run a business from your property—a daycare, a salon, a workshop, a farm stand—landscaping costs may be partially deductible as a business expense, depending on how much of the property is used for business purposes.

The same proportional logic from the home office scenario applies. If the business operations use a certain percentage of the property, that percentage of your landscaping cost may be deductible. For businesses like daycares where the outdoor space is part of the service, the case for deduction is much stronger.

Quick Reference: Who Can Deduct What?

How to Keep Good Records

Regardless of which category you fall into, the IRS expects documentation. Here's what you should be keeping:

1. Invoices from your landscaping provider — Itemized by service type and property address. TruScape provides detailed monthly invoices for every property we service.
2. Proof of payment — Bank statements or credit card records showing the transactions.
3. Property use documentation — For partial deductions, you need to document the percentage of business use (square footage calculations, time logs, etc.).
4. Before/after photos for improvements — If you're capitalizing a landscape improvement, photos help establish what was done and why.
5. Contracts and service agreements — Your signed seasonal contract spells out exactly what services are included.

A Note About Pennsylvania State Taxes

Pennsylvania does not have a state-level deduction system that mirrors federal itemized deductions—the PA personal income tax is a flat 3.07% on taxable income. However, for business income (landlords, commercial property owners, self-employed), landscape expenses that are deductible on your federal return also reduce your PA taxable business income. If you file a PA Schedule C, E, or similar, the same expenses flow through.

Local earned income tax (EIT) in your municipality may also be affected by your net business income, so deductible landscaping expenses could provide a small additional benefit there as well.

The Bottom Line

If you're a regular homeowner mowing your own property, lawn care isn't tax-deductible. But if that same property generates income—as a rental, a business location, or a commercial facility—the game changes completely. Routine landscaping maintenance becomes a deductible business expense, and larger improvements can be depreciated over time.

The key takeaways:

• Personal homes: No deduction for routine lawn care
• Rental properties: Fully deductible maintenance, depreciated improvements
• Commercial properties: Fully deductible maintenance, depreciated improvements
• Home office / business: Proportional deduction based on business use percentage
• Always consult a CPA — Tax law is complex and changes frequently

And if you're looking for a landscaping partner that makes the paperwork easy—clean invoices, consistent monthly billing, and a contract that spells out exactly what's covered—that's kind of our thing.