Travel Tax Deductions

If you organize your travel with some thought, you can reap the tax benefits of combining business and pleasure. You have the opportunity to travel anywhere and deduct your travel expenses, even when the trip is not solely for business. Combining a family vacation with a business trip can result in significant tax savings. “Making Tax A Game” discusses business travel in the United States.

For tax purposes, travel is defined as being away from your principal place of business substantially longer than an ordinary workday. In addition, you must need to sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away. You don’t have to be away from home for a whole day (24 hours), as long as your relief period is long enough to require necessary sleep or rest.

In order to be deductible business travel and related expenses must be:

Reasonable and helpful to the development and maintenance of your business, and

Done with the intent of gaining a direct business benefit, and

Customary and usual within your industry.

The PBS goes into great detail in providing explanation of the terms, limitations, and required documentation that enable any taxpayer engaged in a legitimate business, even an at-home business, to gain great tax benefits in the areas of:

Travel expenses for other persons, including family members,

Meals expenses under either the Actual Cost method or the The Standard Meal Allowance method, or

Combining business and vacation on a single trip.

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