Tax deduction for travel to Orlando??

[carj]

We went to Orlando in June of 2008. My husband's employer paid for him to attend a conference there. We paid for airfare, hotel and car rental. We actually thought that the airfare and car rental might be paid for until about a month before the trip. At that point though, we were going even without the reimbursement. He attended the conference for 4 full days and 2 half days. On the full days he was there from 7:30am to 6pm or later.

So...my question is, can we claim his portion of the trip as a business expense? It would be $196 for the airfare and $168 for the rental car. His portion of the hotel would be a percentage of the 5 nights of our 7 night stay which would be $498.

My problem is this, we have receipts for everything, but the whole family is on the receipt. I have figured out what his portion would be of the total. If this is likely to be a problem, I will just skip it. Although, I am doing the rental car for sure because only he drove the car and only to attend the conference.

I am not trying to scam the IRS for a deduction but since he did go for business for 5 days, then I am wondering how to make this work, or if it is worth the trouble.

Thanks!

 

[seashoreCM]

I say you can claim one whole business day for working 8 hours or one whole business week for working 40 hours within it. This might absorb DH's complete airfare as a business expense. The entire limo or towncar fare and airport parking would be deductible if that would be the same had he gone alone choosing the same modes of transportation.

Deduct the cost of a single room that he might have occupied if he were alone; what is over and above that is excluded as family hotel personal expense. If extra hotel nights were needed to meet a Saturday night stayover for the airfare, include them.

Figure out the miles needed for direct trips from the hotel to the office/convention center, also trips to Kinko's or other office supply stores and to restaurants he ate at; what miles are left is family rental car personal expense. This is used to determine the proportion of the rental car bill is for work.

For a buy four get three free at a convention hotel like Coronado Springs, you might even assign the buy four to the working days and the get three free to days off.

Keep track of other business expenses during the year. If DH is an employee as opposed to an independent contractor, a portion of the aggregate business expenses and other miscellaneous deductions (equal to 2% of adjusted gross income) have to be lopped off before you end up with a final figure for a deduction.

 

[carj]

Thank you for your help!

He usually doesn't have many business expenses so I don't think about deductions for him. I drive a LOT for work so I keep track of my expenses pretty well.

Hopefully these deductions will push us over the threshold and we won't owe anything.

 

[AuroraBeauty]

You're not talking about Business Expenses, you're actually asking about deducting Non-Reimbursable Business Expenses.

You have to itemize your taxes b/c these go on Schedule A. But there is a minimum that must be met. I believe the expenses are only deductible to the extent that they are above 2% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). There are other rules related to travel-related expenses.

If you pay out of pocket for job-related expenses, you may be able to deduct them on your return. In general, tax-deductible job expenses must be ordinary and necessary. A job expense is ordinary if it is common and accepted in your trade, business or profession. An expense is necessary if it is appropriate and helpful to your business. An expense does not have to be required to be considered necessary.

Tax-deductible expenses include the following:

* bonding
* physical examinations
* office supplies not provided by your employer
* professional or trade association dues
* research, lecture and writing expenses
* safety clothes and equipment
* union dues
* personal tools and equipment
* travel, meal and entertainment expenses (see Publication 463)
* computers and mobile phones (see Publication 946)


You must report these and other unreimbursed business expenses on Schedule A or on Form 2106.

Business Travel
The expense of your daily commute to work isn't tax deductible. However, if you find that you must travel to secondary or temporary locations — even within your metropolitan area — as part of your job and your employer does not reimburse you for that travel, those expenses may be tax deductible. Also, travel to and from a second job may be tax deductible.

Unreimbursed expenses for business travel outside of your metropolitan area may also be tax deductible. And you generally can deduct 50% of the cost of qualifying meals and entertainment expenses. You must complete Form 2106 to claim these tax deductions.

If you use turbo-tax it can help you figure it out too. If you do it yourself make sure you read all the possible rules.

Hope this helps!