Travel Away from Home

• Travel expenses for the purposes of tax deduction are expenses for ordinary and necessary business travel away from your business home in connection with your job, business or profession. The IRS uses your place of business as your tax home for purposes of expense deduction. Your business home is the place where your primary business activities are conducted.
  
  

Allowable Deductions

• The IRS provides a summary of common travel expenses that may be deductible under normal circumstances. Some of the deductible expenses listed are transportation, hotel, cleaning, business telephone calls, meals and tips. Other expenses may be deducted if they are ordinary and necessary and not deemed extravagant. Expenses for another person not related to your business may not be deducted. An example would be deduction of a double occupancy hotel room for travel with a spouse. Only the single room rate would be eligible for deduction.
  
  

Meals

• Business meals are normally deductible at a rate of 50 percent of actual cost. The meals must not be lavish or extravagant. Whether a meal is lavish or extravagant is determined by the individual circumstances. Individuals may also use the standard federal per diem meals allowance rate. As of publication the standard rate for the federal meals allowance is $46 per day.
  
  

Transportation

• Deductible transportation costs can include those associated with airline, bus, train, rental car or personal car travel. The deduction of commercial carrier and rental car expenses is governed by the ordinary and necessary for business requirement of the Internal Revenue Service. Travel by personal car may be deducted using the standard mileage rate or through deduction of actual costs. The deduction of actual costs would be in ratio to the percentage of business use over the tax year. The standard mileage rate is announced annually by the Internal Revenue Service.