Tax-Smart Domestic Travel: Combining Business with Pleasure
Summer is just around the corner, so you might be thinking about getting some vacation time. If you’re self-employed or a business owner, you have a golden opportunity to combine a business trip with a few extra days of vacation and offset some of the cost with a tax deduction. But be careful, or you might not qualify for the write-offs you’re expecting.
Basic rules
Business travel expenses can potentially be deducted if the travel is within the United States and the expenses are:
- “Ordinary and necessary” and
- Directly related to the business.
Note: The tax rules for foreign business travel are different from those for domestic travel.
Business owners and the self-employed are generally eligible to deduct business travel expenses if they meet the tests described above. However, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, employees can no longer deduct such expenses. The potential deductions discussed in this article assume that you’re a business owner or self-employed.
A business-vacation trip
Transportation costs to and from the location of your business activity may be 100% deductible if the primary reason for the trip is business rather than pleasure. But if vacation is the primary reason for your travel, […]