Next up in our series of crazy ways people have legally avoided taxes is Jan Van Dusen, the definition of a crazy cat lady. At one point, Ms. Van Dusen had taken in so many cats that she was caring for 70-plus cats at one time in her home. It’s safe to assume that caring for that many animals is going to come with a rather large price tag. On one tax return, Ms. Van Dusen tried to write off $12,068 for items such as cat food and vet bills. Normally, these would be considered personal taxes but Jan Van Dusen was prepared to take on the IRS herself in order to save her cats. Eventually, she was able to convince the IRS that her operation was more of an animal shelter organization, since her house was so overrun by felines that she was unable to ever have people over, and was able to get deductions for most of her claims. If you have tax trouble, contact our office at 816-524-4949 or check out our website at Hoorfarlaw.com.