Business travel defined
You are considered "traveling away from home" for tax purposes if your duties require you to be away from the general area of your home longer than an ordinary day's work, and you need sleep or rest to meet the demands of work while away. Your tax home is your regular place of business regardless of where you maintain your family home. Deductible travel expenses while away from home include, but are not limited to, the costs of:
- Travel by airplane, train, bus, or car to or from the business destination
- Fares for taxis or other transportation
- Meals and lodging
- Tips for services related to any of these expenses
- Dry cleaning and laundry
- Business calls while on the business trip
- Other similar ordinary and necessary expenses related to business travel.
Business mixed with personal travelTravel that is primarily for personal reasons is not tax deductable. However, taxpayers often mix personal travel with business travel. In many cases, business travelers may be able to engage in some non-business activities and not lose all of the tax benefits associated with business travel. The primary purpose of a trip is determined by looking at the facts and circumstances. An important factor is the amount of time you spent on personal activities during the trip as compared to the amount of time spent on business activities.
Weekend stayovers
Business travel often concludes on a Friday but it may be more economical to stay over Saturday. Staying over a Saturday night is one way to add some personal time to a business trip.
Foreign travel
The rules for foreign travel are particularly complex. For information about deducting foreign travel expenses, please read the article on the Newsletter page of our website.
Click on the NEWS quick link below to read the entire article found on our Website. Look for the article titled " Stay within the tax rules when combining business and personal travel." |
