Writing off manicures on taxes?

I'm a jeweler and one of my co-workers confided in me that she gets a manicure every Sunday. I was a little surprised that she was able to afford it (her husband works two jobs, so does she, and they are over their heads in debt). She just said plain and simply that she "writes them off as a business expense on [her] taxes".

Is that even legal??? I can paint my own nails, so I have no interest in doing it. But... if it's illegal, I don't want to get in trouble by association or something.
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For such an expense and for that matter any expense the taxpayer would be required to show that the expense was customary and necessary for the type of business the taxpayer is making the claim. If every jeweler in your city required that their female employees have manicured nails you may have a chance. It is unlikely that your friend will meet this standard if they are audited. However if they are never audited or hide the expense there is little that will occur to them. In either case you are not going to get into trouble for knowing that information unless you denied it to Federal Investigators if they asked you during an investigation.
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Depending on what she does for a living it could be legal, like she's a hand model, etc. But if her job does not relate directly to the appearance of her hands, then it is not legal. She's probably calling the expenses something else other than manicure on her return because you don't submit actual receipts when you file business expenses. The only way she can get caught is if she gets audited by the IRS. THEN they want to see your receipts.

Knowing she does it probably won't get you into any trouble and she still has to put out all that money for a year on manicures before she gets any of it back and she's not getting 100% of that money back anyway.
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So...in 3-6 years when they get audited and they try to defend the deduction of personal expenses...lose...and have EVERY deduction examined under a microscope...lose, owe tax, owe 20% extra for fraud, plus late fees and interest.....will you think she's so brilliant then?
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This isn't at all legal.
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NOPE.
Only if it was a requirement of her employer, and then it's still a stretch.