»»Travel Expenses Small-Businesses Can Deduct from Their Taxes
What business travel and entertainment expenses business owners or self-employed people can deduct?
Basically everything about your business trip expenses can be deducted as long as you have the records to back it up. Record keeping is critical when it comes travel and entertainment expenses you can write off.
The USA Today quoted Frank Degen, an agent licensed by the IRS to work with taxpayers, as saying: “You need to have records of the four ‘P’s’ and a ‘D,’ and the four ‘P’s’ are the person, the place, the purpose and the price, and the ‘D’ is the date. That’s an easy way for business owners or self-employed people to remember what they need to do.” (Source).
Ordinary and necessary expenses can be deducted when away from home overnight for work, including 100% of domestic travel costs — air, train or bus fare.
Business owners can write off 50% of business meals and entertainment, or — when away from home overnight on business — they can opt for a daily meal allowance — $39 from Jan. 1, 2009, through Sept. 30, increased to $46 from Oct. 1.
About the mileage you put on your personal car when conducting business, you must keep a written log to keep it separate from the miles you drive that are business related.
Even when there’s no max amount of the single business trip expenses you can deduct, you have to use some common sense. Luxury or extravagant expenses can’t be deducted, or to better say, you have to relate the expenses you plan to write off to the kind of income your business does.
Resources and expert advice can be found on IRS website or on hrblock.com (you get real answers from tax professionals).
