Vacation, a Tax Write Off?

March 5, 2020 by OSYB Staff

Needing a vacation but can’t quite afford it? Perhaps you could combine a business trip with some leisure time. Intuit QuickBooks shares how you can lighten your out-of-pocket vacation expenses by planning out a few of these things:

• Set up a business appointment before you plan your vacation or leave for it. Maintain all records and correspondence pertaining to scheduling appointment/s.
• Use the trip primarily for business:
  • if you are traveling away from your place of business for longer than an ordinary day’s work, you can deduct 100 percent of your transportation costs, such as airfare or mileage
  • on days considered business days, you will also be able to deduct lodging, taxis, car rentals, and 50 percent of your food costs. You can also deduct laundry, dry cleaning, personal grooming, and other “ordinary and reasonable” business expenses necessary for the trip
  • the IRS doesn’t require that you keep receipts for expenses less than $75, but keep a log of the time and date of the expenses.
  • if you make a layover in another city for personal reasons, you cannot deduct those related travel expenses
• Study and understand IRS requirements for business write-offs, then be mindful about scheduling business appointments to meet the parameters for business expenditures.

Note that if you travel with your family, only your solo business expenses are included and these rules are only applicable to travel within the United States.

For full article: How to write off a vacation on your taxes

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