(And Why I Finally Built a Tool to Fix That)
Updated: October 26, 2025
The Augusta Rule has been around for decades. It's 100% legal, straightforward in concept, and incredibly effective at saving taxes when done correctly. And yet, as a CPA, I can honestly say: I never once told a client to use it.
Not because I didn't believe in it. Not because I didn't want to save my clients money. I just knew that for most people, it was never going to get done right.
The problem wasn't the rule. It was the follow-through.
The Augusta Rule sounds simple enough: rent out your home to your business for up to 14 days per year, and the rental income can be tax-free. The business gets a deduction, you don't pay tax on the income. It's a win-win.
But here's the catch: that deduction only holds up if everything is documented and executed properly.
We're talking:
Miss one of those, and the whole thing can fall apart.
As a CPA, I could never bring myself to recommend something that depended so heavily on execution I didn't control.
If a client "forgot" to move the money, or couldn't justify the rate, or tried to backdate an agreement, it could blow up in an audit. And even if they were the ones who missed a step, it would still come back to me.
So, I took the conservative route: I didn't recommend it.
And honestly, that's what most CPAs do. It's not that we don't know about the Augusta Rule. It's that we don't trust that it'll be done right.
Eventually, I realized that was the real problem: the process, not the rule.
The Augusta Rule itself is legitimate. The IRS allows it. But the barrier is the work (the paperwork, documentation, and timing) that stands between a good idea and a defensible deduction.
That's why I built Augusta Planner.
It's a simple tool designed by a CPA to help CPAs and their clients actually follow through. To automate the boring but critical parts: creating the agreement, calculating a fair rate, documenting the events, and keeping a clean record of payments. It's the tool I wish I had for my clients.
In other words, to make it possible for CPAs like me to finally say: "Yes, take advantage of the Augusta Rule! And do it right.”
Vince Cortese, CPA
Founder of Augusta Planner
