Common Cents: Can you deduct summer travel with business expenses? 

Generally, your unreimbursed travel expenses are deductible, with the following limitations:

• If you go on a one-day business trip in the general area of your home, you may deduct your transportation costs but not your personal meal expenses.
• If you or your employer has two places of business, you may deduct the cost of traveling directly from one business location to the other. Side trips along the way are not deductible.
• If your tax home is in one location and you travel a distance from your principal residence to your place of work, your travel expenses are not deductible.

Example(s): Say you live in Cleveland but your employer is located in Pennsylvania. Each Monday, you travel to Pennsylvania and stay in a motel there, then return to Cleveland on Fridays. Your transportation, lodging, and meal costs while in Pennsylvania are not deductible.

• If you are temporarily assigned to work in an area away from your normal place of work, you may deduct the cost of traveling to that area, as well as the costs of meals and lodging. However, deductions are not allowed on temporary assignments that are expected to last more than one year.

Commuting expenses

Generally, the cost of traveling between your home and your place of work is not deductible. This is true even if the distance is large and/or if your place of work is not served by public transportation. In addition, the following rules apply:

• Commuting costs if you are part of a carpool are also not deductible
• The cost of cellphone calls made while commuting to or from work are not deductible
• Discussing work with coworkers while commuting to or from work does not allow for the travel costs to be deductible

Exceptions to commuting expenses rule

There are two exceptions under which you can deduct commuting expenses:

• When away on a business trip, you may deduct transportation costs (i.e., taxi and bus fares) from your place of lodging to your day's first business call and transportation costs between business locations throughout the day.
• You may deduct the cost of using your vehicle to carry equipment to work if you can demonstrate that the expenses are in addition to your ordinary commuting costs.

 For example, if you need to rent a trailer to haul equipment with you to and from work, and the rental cost is $80 per week, this cost is deductible.

Commuting to a temporary place of work

Any location where you perform work for your employer for a short period of time (a few days or weeks) or on an irregular basis (a few days each month, for example) is considered a temporary place of work. The commuting costs from your home to a temporary place of work are deductible if the following apply:

• The temporary place of work is located in the metropolitan area where you live and work.
• You have a regular place of work outside your home, or your place of work is in a home office.

 If the temporary place of work is outside of the metropolitan area where you live and work, commuting expenses are deductible if the work assignment lasts for less than one year.

When can you deduct meal expenses?

In order to deduct meal expenses (with the exception of expenses for meals directly related to or associated with business), you must be away from your tax home on a business trip that necessitates your staying away overnight.

 If, for example, you stop to eat lunch at the airport before going to the client's office out of town and return that evening. The cost of your lunch is not deductible. However, if you had stayed overnight to meet a client the next day, all your meal expenses (and lodging) would be deductible.

Calculating meal expenses

If you find it difficult to keep a record of meal expenditures while on business trips, you can choose to deduct the per diem allowance allowed by the IRS, without keeping receipts of the meals. The amount, which covers meals and tips, ranges from $51 to $74 per day, with the higher amounts for travel outside the continental U.S. or for certain designated high-cost areas and for all transportation-industry workers.

As you can see, there are many restrictions and limitations when deducting business trips that aren't all business.  If you are planning one of these excursions and need some advice as to what amount may be tax deductible, contact us at info@zinnerco.com or 216.831.0733. I'm happy to help and ready to start the conversation.