NEW: Can you write off the cost of beer against income tax?

How much can you legally write off on taxes?

Bill Werbeniuk was a Canadian professional snooker player in the 1970’s & 1980’s.

He was also the holder of a medical certificate that approved his drinking.

Even better, he could offset the cost of beer against income tax.

Werbeniuk “suffered from a hereditary nervous disease

(or so he and his doctors claimed) which caused his hands to

shake.

The only solution which allowed him to participate in his trade was drink”. 

No, before you ask, you won’t be able to obtain a medical certificate that approves your alcohol consumption.

Doctors these days are trying to get people to drink less, not more.

It’s also quite probable that if a doctor was mad enough to prescribe such a certificate they might at least come before the Medical Council to answer some pointed questions.

Even if you did manage to get a medical certificate that approved the drinking of alcohol, could you write off your alcohol intake against tax?

Werbeniuk managed to do exactly that because he was prescribed alcohol in the course of his work i.e. playing snooker.

But how?

According to the Daily Telegraph Werbeniuk “suffered from a hereditary nervous disease (or so he and his doctors claimed) which caused his hands to shake. The only solution which allowed him to participate in his trade was drink”. 

‘I drank 28 pints of lager and 8 double scotches

during the day and was only starting to feel comfortable

at the table in the final couple of frames.

Now I know that I can only play if I’m totally drunk,

and that’s not fair on me”.

Werbeniuk, a huge man weighing 25 stone, regularly drank 50 pints of lager a day.

This caused more than the usual discomfort.

Though he never made it to the top of the world snooker rankings, Werbeniuk did make history when he became “the first man to split his trousers during a televised match”.  

Werbeniuk’s condition, noted The Telegraph, “could have been stabilised under the use of beta blockers” but he ran into trouble here.

His consultant recommended the use of the drug, Inderal, which was a banned substance according to the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.

As the Telegraph put it, Werbeniuk “acquired a medical certificate which approved his beer drinking and became the envy of every armchair viewer when it was explained that he could offset the cost of beer against income tax”.

_____________________

Could you?

I’m not tax expert but I would imagine absolutely not.

For a start medical science has moved on considerably since Werbeniuk’s time and there’s likely plenty of medication now that you could take that would not find itself on the banned list.

"In January 1990 Werbeniuk played Nigel Bond

in the preliminary rounds of the World Championships.

He lost 10-1.

During the match he drank 28 pints of lager and 16 whiskies.

Afterwards he drank a bottle of scotch “to drown his sorrows”. 

Secondly Werbeniuk was performing a specific task (snooker) that could only be played indoors. It was his job (he reached eighth in world rankings in 1983) and posed no danger to anyone else.

Werbeniuk was playing in a world-recognised sport and was good enough to make the top 16 and entry into the World Championship.

Finally, the only person who could be adversely affected by Werbeniuk’s drinking was likely Werbeniuk himself.

In other words, Werbeniuk posed no danger to anyone else, other than his world rankings.

Werbeniuk was an exceptional example operating in exceptional circumstances.

Unfortunately that doesn’t include you or I, regardless of how much our parents tell us we’re “unique”.

And Werbeniuk was exceptional.

According to the Telegraph, Werbeniuk could have drank any amateur drinker under the table.

“I’d down six to eight pints of lager before I started” he said. “Then I’d have one pint a frame”. 

In January 1990 Werbeniuk played Nigel Bond in the preliminary rounds of the World Championships.

He lost 10-1.

During the match he drank 28 pints of lager and 16 whiskies.

Afterwards he drank a bottle of scotch “to drown his sorrows”. 

In reflective mood afterwards Werbeniuk was frank with himself.

“I have got to think seriously if I’m going to bother playing any more’ he said. ‘I drank 28 pints of lager and 8 double scotches during the day and was only starting to feel comfortable at the table in the final couple of frames. Now I know that I can only play if I’m totally drunk, and that’s not fair on me”.

If only we all possessed such reserves of self-awareness.