Can Pet Sitters Deduct a GPS Tracking App Subscription for Safety?
Yes — a GPS tracking app subscription used to monitor your location or a pet's location during walks and visits for safety purposes is a deductible business expense, since it exists specifically to support the safe delivery of your pet care services.
Many pet sitters use GPS tracking for a couple of reasons: to give clients real-time visibility into their walk (a feature some clients now expect), or to track a pet's location as a safety measure in case of an escape or emergency during a visit.
Either use case ties the subscription directly to your business operations, making the cost fully deductible as an ordinary expense of running a pet sitting or dog walking business.
If the app is a general-purpose personal safety or tracking app that you also use outside of work, only the business-use portion would technically be deductible — but for pet sitters who adopted the subscription specifically because of client work, the full cost is generally reasonable to deduct.
Other technology and safety costs commonly deductible for pet sitters:
Client-facing visit report apps that log photos and updates during visits
Booking and scheduling platform fees
Pet first-aid supplies kept on hand during visits
Emergency contact or vet information management tools
A common mistake: pet sitters treat safety-related technology as a personal precaution rather than a business tool, when a subscription adopted specifically to protect client pets and provide visit transparency is a legitimate, deductible business cost.
BossTax's free app tracks software subscriptions automatically as they renew, so smaller recurring safety and tech costs don't get lost.
Curious what other tech and safety costs you can write off? Book a free intro call and we'll walk through it together. Click here.
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