Once you have determined that you are traveling away from your tax home, you can determine what travel expenses are deductible.

Deductible travel expenses include those ordinary and necessary expenses you have when you travel away from home on business. The type of expense you can deduct depends on the facts and your circumstances.

Table 1 summarizes travel expenses you may be able to deduct. You may have other deductible travel expenses that are not covered there, depending on the facts and your circumstances.

When you travel away from home on business, you should keep records of all the expenses you have and any advances you receive from your employer. You can use a log, diary, notebook, or any other written record to keep track of your expenses. The types of expenses you need to record, along with supporting documentation, are described in Table 4 (see chapter 5).

Travel expenses for another individual. If a spouse, dependent, or other individual goes with you (or your employee) on a business trip or to a business convention, you generally cannot deduct his or her travel expenses.

Employee. You can deduct the travel expenses you have for an accompanying individual if that individual:

1. Is your employee,
2. Has a bona fide business purpose for the travel, and
3. Would otherwise be allowed to deduct the travel expenses.

Business associate. If a business associate travels with you and meets the conditions in (2) and (3) above, you can claim the deductible travel expenses you have for that person. A business associate is someone with whom you could reasonably expect to actively conduct business. A business associate can be a current or prospective (likely to become) customer, client, supplier, employee, agent, partner, or professional advisor.

Bona fide business purpose. For a bona fide business purpose to exist, you must prove a real business purpose for the individual's presence. Incidental services, such as typing notes or assisting in entertaining customers, are not enough to warrant a deduction.

Example. Jerry drives to Chicago on business and takes his wife, Linda, with him. Linda is not Jerry's employee. Even if her presence serves a bona fide business purpose, her expenses are not deductible.

Jerry pays $115 a day for a double room. A single room costs $90 a day. He can deduct the total cost of driving his car to and from Chicago, but only $90 a day for his hotel room. If he uses public transportation, he can deduct only his fare.

Table 1. Travel Expenses You Can Deduct

Meals

Unless you meet the rules for business entertainment, you cannot deduct the cost of meals if it is not necessary for you to stop for sleep or rest to properly perform your duties. These rules are explained in chapter 2.

50% limit on meals. You can use either the actual cost of your meals or a standard amount to figure your meals expense. (See Standard Meal Allowance later in this chapter.) However, you can generally deduct only 50% of the cost of your unreimbursed business-related meals.

If you are reimbursed for the cost of your meals, how you apply the 50% limit depends on whether your employer's reimbursement plan was accountable or nonaccountable. If you are not reimbursed, the 50% limit applies whether the unreimbursed meal expense is for business travel or business entertainment. Chapter 2 discusses the 50% limit in more detail, and chapter 6 discusses accountable and nonaccountable plans.

Lavish or extravagant. You cannot deduct expenses for meals that are lavish or extravagant. An expense is not considered lavish or extravagant if it is reasonable based on the facts and circumstances. Expenses will not be disallowed merely because they are more than a fixed dollar amount or take place at deluxe restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, or resorts.

Standard Meal Allowance

You generally can deduct a standard amount for your daily meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) while you are traveling away from home on business. In this publication, "standard meal allowance" refers to the federal rate for M&IE (which varies based on where and when you travel).

Incidental expenses. These include, but are not limited to, your costs for the following items.

1. Laundry, cleaning and pressing of clothing.
2. Fees and tips for persons who provide services, such as porters and baggage carriers.

Incidental expenses do not include taxicab fares, lodging taxes, or the costs of telegrams or telephone calls.

Federal employees should refer to the Federal Travel Regulations at 41 CFR 301 for changes affecting their claims for reimbursement of these expenses.

The standard meal allowance method is an alternative to the actual cost method. It allows you to deduct a set amount, depending on where and when you travel, instead of keeping records of your actual costs. If you use the standard meal allowance, you still must keep records to prove the time, place, and business purpose of your travel. See the recordkeeping rules for travel in chapter 5.

There is no optional standard lodging amount similar to the standard meal allowance. Your allowable lodging expense deduction is your actual cost.

Who can use the standard meal allowance. You can use the standard meal allowance whether you are an employee or self-employed, and whether or not you are reimbursed for your traveling expenses. You cannot use the standard meal allowance if you are related to your employer as defined next.

Related to employer. You are related to your employer if:

1. Your employer is your brother or sister, half brother or half sister, spouse, ancestor, or lineal descendant,
2. Your employer is a corporation in which you own, directly or indirectly, more than 10% in value of the outstanding stock, or
3. Certain relationships (such as grantor, fiduciary, or beneficiary) exist between you, a trust, and your employer.

You may be considered to indirectly own stock, for purposes of (2), if you have an interest in a corporation, partnership, estate, or trust that owns the stock or if a member of your family or your partner owns the stock.

Use of the standard meal allowance for other travel. You can use the standard meal allowance to prove meal expenses you have when you travel in connection with investment and other income-producing property. You can also use it to prove meal expenses you have when you travel for qualifying educational purposes. You cannot use the standard meal allowance to prove the amount of your meals when you travel for medical or charitable purposes.

Amount of standard meal allowance. The standard meal allowance is the federal M&IE rate. For travel in 2000, the rate is $30 a day for most areas in the United States. Other locations in the United States are designated as high-cost areas, qualifying for higher standard meal allowances. Locations qualifying for rates of $34, $38, $42, or $46 a day are listed in Publication 1542.

If you travel to more than one location in one day, use the rate in effect for the area where you stop for sleep or rest. If you work in the transportation industry, however, see Special rate for transportation workers, later.

50% limit may apply. If you are not reimbursed or if you are reimbursed under a nonaccountable plan for meal expenses, you can generally deduct only 50% of the standard meal allowance. If you are reimbursed under an accountable plan and you are deducting amounts that are more than your reimbursements, you can deduct only 50% of the excess amount. The 50% limit is discussed in more detail in chapter 2, and accountable and nonaccountable plans are discussed in chapter 6.

Standard meal allowance for areas outside the continental United States. The standard meal allowance rates do not apply to travel in Alaska, Hawaii, or any other locations outside the continental United States. The federal per diem rates for these locations are published monthly in the Maximum Travel Per Diem Allowances for Foreign Areas.

	Your employer may have these rates available, or you can purchase the publication from the: Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government Printing Office P.O. Box 371954 Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954.
	You can also order it by calling the Government Printing Office at 1-202-512-1800 (not a toll-free number).
	Per diem rates are also available on the Internet. If you have a computer and a modem, you can access domestic per diem rates at: www.policyworks.gov/perdiem You can access foreign per diem rates at: www.state.gov/www/perdiems

Special rate for transportation workers. You can use a special standard meal allowance if you work in the transportation industry. You are in the transportation industry if your work:

1. Directly involves moving people or goods by airplane, barge, bus, ship, train, or truck, and
2. Regularly requires you to travel away from home and, during any single trip, usually involves travel to areas eligible for different standard meal allowance rates.

If this applies to you, you can claim a $38 a day standard meal allowance ($42 for travel outside the continental United States).

Using the special rate for transportation workers eliminates the need for you to determine the standard meal allowance for every area where you stop for sleep or rest. If you choose to use the special rate for any trip, you must use the special rate (and not use the regular standard meal allowance rates) for all trips you take that year.

Travel for days you depart and return. For both the day you depart for and the day you return from a business trip, you must prorate the standard meal allowance. You can do so by one of two methods.

• Method 1: You can claim 3/4 of the standard meal allowance.
• Method 2: You can use any method that you consistently apply and that is in accordance with reasonable business practice.

Example. Jen is employed in New Orleans as a convention planner. In March, her employer sent her on a 3-day trip to Washington, DC, to attend a planning seminar. She left her home in New Orleans at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and arrived in Washington, DC, at 5:30 p.m. After spending two nights there, she flew back to New Orleans on Friday and arrived back home at 8:00 p.m. Jen's employer gave her a flat amount to cover her expenses and included it with her wages.

Under Method 1, Jen can claim 2 1/2 days of the standard meal allowance for Washington, DC: 3/4 of the daily rate for Wednesday and Friday (the days she departed and returned), and the full daily rate for Thursday.

Under Method 2, Jen could also use any method that she applies consistently and that is in accordance with reasonable business practice. For example, she could claim 3 days of the standard meal allowance even though a federal employee would be limited to only 2 1/2 days.

Travel in the United States

The following discussion applies to travel in the United States. For this purpose, the United States includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The treatment of your travel expenses depends on how much of your trip was business related and on how much of your trip occurred within the United States. See Part of Trip Outside the United States, later.

Trip Primarily for Business

You can deduct all of your travel expenses if your trip was entirely business related. If your trip was primarily for business and, while at your business destination, you extended your stay for a vacation, made a nonbusiness side trip, or had other nonbusiness activities, you can deduct your business-related travel expenses. These expenses include the travel costs of getting to and from your business destination and any business-related expenses at your business destination.

Example. You work in Atlanta and take a business trip to New Orleans. On your way home, you stop in Mobile to visit your parents. You spend $630 for the 9 days you are away from home for travel, meals, lodging, and other travel expenses. If you had not stopped in Mobile, you would have been gone only 6 days, and your total cost would have been $580. You can deduct $580 for your trip, including the cost of round-trip transportation to and from New Orleans. The cost of your meals is subject to the 50% limit on meals mentioned earlier.

Trip Primarily for Personal Reasons

If your trip was primarily for personal reasons, such as a vacation, the entire cost of the trip is a nondeductible personal expense. However, you can deduct any expenses you have while at your destination that are directly related to your business.

A trip to a resort or on a cruise ship may be a vacation even if the promoter advertises that it is primarily for business. The scheduling of incidental business activities during a trip, such as viewing videotapes or attending lectures dealing with general subjects, will not change what is really a vacation into a business trip.

Part of Trip Outside the United States

If part of your trip is outside the United States, use the rules described later in this chapter under Travel Outside the United States for that part of the trip. For the part of your trip that is inside the United States, use the rules in this section. Travel outside the United States does not include travel from one point in the United States to another point in the United States. The following discussion can help you determine whether your trip was entirely within the United States.

Public transportation. If you travel by public transportation, any place in the United States where that vehicle makes a scheduled stop is a point in the United States. Once the vehicle leaves the last scheduled stop in the United States on its way to a point outside the United States, you apply the rules under Travel Outside the United States.

Example. You fly from New York to Puerto Rico with a scheduled stop in Miami. You return to New York nonstop. The flight from New York to Miami is in the United States, so only the flight from Miami to Puerto Rico is outside the United States. Because there are no scheduled stops between Puerto Rico and New York, all of the return trip is outside the United States.

Private car. Travel by private car in the United States is travel between points in the United States, even though you are on your way to a destination outside the United States.

Example. You travel by car from Denver to Mexico City and return. Your travel from Denver to the border and from the border back to Denver is travel in the United States, and the rules in this section apply. The rules under Travel Outside the United States apply to your trip from the border to Mexico City and back to the border.

Travel Outside the United States

If any part of your business travel is outside the United States, some of your deductions for the cost of getting to and from your destination may be limited. For this purpose, the United States includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

How much of your travel expenses you can deduct depends in part upon how much of your trip outside the United States was business related.

Travel Entirely for Business or Considered Entirely for Business

You can deduct all your travel expenses of getting to and from your business destination if your trip is entirely for business or considered entirely for business.

Travel entirely for business. If you travel outside the United States and you spend the entire time on business activities, you can deduct all of your travel expenses.

Travel considered entirely for business. Even if you did not spend your entire time on business activities, your trip is considered entirely for business if you meet at least one of the following four exceptions.

Exception 1 - No substantial control. Your trip is considered entirely for business if you did not have substantial control over arranging the trip. You are not considered to have substantial control merely because you have control over the timing of your trip.

You are considered not to have substantial control over your trip if you:

1. Are an employee who was reimbursed or paid a travel expense allowance,
2. Are not related to your employer, and
3. Are not a managing executive.

"Related to your employer" was defined earlier in this chapter under Standard Meal Allowance.

A "managing executive" is an employee who has the authority and responsibility, without being subject to the veto of another, to decide on the need for the business travel.

A self-employed person generally has substantial control over arranging business trips.

Exception 2 - Outside United States no more than a week. Your trip is considered entirely for business if you were outside the United States for a week or less, combining business and nonbusiness activities. One week means seven consecutive days. In counting the days, do not count the day you leave the United States, but do count the day you return to the United States.

Example. You traveled to Brussels primarily for business. You left Denver on Tuesday and flew to New York. On Wednesday, you flew from New York to Brussels, arriving the next morning. On Thursday and Friday, you had business discussions, and from Saturday until Tuesday, you were sightseeing. You flew back to New York, arriving Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, you flew back to Denver. Although you were away from your home in Denver for more than a week, you were not outside the United States for more than a week. This is because the day you depart does not count as a day outside the United States. You can deduct your cost of the round-trip flight between Denver and Brussels. You can also deduct the cost of your stay in Brussels for Thursday and Friday while you conducted business. However, you cannot deduct the cost of your stay in Brussels from Saturday through Tuesday because those days were spent on nonbusiness activities.

Exception 3 - Less than 25% of time on personal activities. Your trip is considered entirely for business if you were outside the United States for more than a week, but you spent less than 25% of the total time you were outside the United States on nonbusiness activities. For this purpose, count both the day your trip began and the day it ended.

Example. You flew from Seattle to Tokyo, where you spent 14 days on business and 5 days on personal matters. You then flew back to Seattle. You spent one day flying in each direction. Because only 5/21 (less than 25%) of your total time abroad was for nonbusiness activities, you can deduct as travel expenses what it would have cost you to make the trip if you had not engaged in any nonbusiness activity. The amount you can deduct is the cost of the round-trip plane fare and 16 days of meals (subject to the 50% limit), lodging, and other related expenses.

Exception 4 - Vacation not a major consideration. Your trip is considered entirely for business if you can establish that a personal vacation was not a major consideration, even if you have substantial control over arranging the trip.

Travel not entirely for business. If you do not meet any of the above exceptions, you may still be able to deduct some of your expenses. See Travel Primarily for Business, next.

Travel Primarily for Business

If you travel outside the United States primarily for business but spend some of your time on nonbusiness activities, you generally cannot deduct all of your travel expenses. You can only deduct the business portion of your cost of getting to and from your destination. You must allocate the costs between your business and nonbusiness activities to determine your deductible amount. See Travel allocation rules, below.

You do not have to allocate your travel expenses if you meet one of the four exceptions listed earlier under Travel considered entirely for business. In those cases, you can deduct the total cost of getting to and from your destination.

Travel allocation rules. If your trip outside the United States was primarily for business, you must allocate your travel time on a day-to-day basis between business days and nonbusiness days. The days you depart from and return to the United States are both counted as days outside the United States.

To figure the deductible amount of your round-trip travel expenses, use the following fraction. The numerator (top number) is the total number of business days outside the United States. The denominator (bottom number) is the total number of travel days outside the United States.

Counting business days. Your business days include transportation days, days your presence was required, days you spent on business, and certain weekends and holidays.

Transportation day. Count as a business day any day you spend traveling to or from a business destination. However, if because of a nonbusiness activity you do not travel by a direct route, your business days are the days it would take you to travel a reasonably direct route to your business destination. Extra days for side trips or nonbusiness activities cannot be counted as business days.

Presence required. Count as a business day any day your presence is required at a particular place for a specific business purpose. Count it as a business day even if you spend most of the day on nonbusiness activities.

Day spent on business. If your principal activity during working hours is pursuit of your trade or business, count the day as a business day. Also, count as a business day any day you are prevented from working because of circumstances beyond your control.

Certain weekends and holidays. Count weekends, holidays, and other necessary standby days as business days if they fall between business days. But if they follow your business meetings or activity and you remain at your business destination for nonbusiness or personal reasons, do not count them as business days.

Example 1. Your tax home is New York City. You travel to Quebec where you have a business appointment on Friday. You have another appointment on the following Monday. Because your presence was required on both Friday and Monday, they are business days. Because the weekend is between business days, Saturday and Sunday are counted as business days. This is true even though you use the weekend for sightseeing, visiting friends, or other nonbusiness activity.

Example 2. If, in Example 1, you had no business in Quebec after Friday, but stayed until Monday before starting home, Saturday and Sunday would be nonbusiness days.

Nonbusiness activity on the way to or from your business destination. If you stopped for a vacation or other nonbusiness activity either on the way from the United States to your business destination, or on the way back to the United States from your business destination, you must allocate part of your travel expenses to the nonbusiness activity. The part you must allocate is the amount it would have cost you to travel between the point where travel outside the United States begins and your nonbusiness destination and a return to the point where travel outside the United States ends. You determine the nonbusiness portion of that expense by multiplying it by a fraction. The numerator of the fraction is the number of nonbusiness days during your travel outside the United States and the denominator is the total number of days you spend outside the United States.

Example. You live in New York. On May 4 you flew to Paris to attend a business conference that began on May 5. The conference ended at noon on May 14. That evening you flew to Dublin where you visited with friends until the afternoon of May 21, when you flew directly home to New York. The primary purpose for the trip was to attend the conference.

If you had not stopped in Dublin, you would have arrived home the evening of May 14. You did not meet any of the exceptions that would allow you to consider your travel entirely for business. May 4 through May 14 (11 days) are business days and May 15 through May 21 (7 days) are nonbusiness days.

You can deduct the cost of your meals (subject to the 50% limit), lodging, and other business-related travel expenses while in Paris.

You cannot deduct your expenses while in Dublin. You also cannot deduct 7/18 of what it would have cost you to travel round-trip between New York and Dublin.

You paid $450 to fly from New York to Paris, $200 to fly from Paris to Dublin, and $500 to fly from Dublin back to New York. Roundtrip airfare from New York to Dublin would have been $850.

You figure the deductible part of your air travel expenses by subtracting 7/18 of the round-trip fare and other expenses you would have had in traveling directly between New York and Dublin (850 x 7/18 = $331) from your total expenses in traveling from New York to Paris to Dublin and back to New York ($450 + $200 + $500 = $1,150).

Your deductible air travel expense is $819 ($1,150 - $331).

Nonbusiness activity at, near, or beyond business destination. If you had a vacation or other nonbusiness activity at, near, or beyond your business destination, you must allocate part of your travel expenses to the nonbusiness activity. The part you must allocate is the amount it would have cost you to travel between the point where travel outside the United States begins and your business destination and a return to the point where travel outside the United States ends. You determine the nonbusiness portion of that expense by multiplying it by a fraction. The numerator of the fraction is the number of nonbusiness days during your travel outside the United States and the denominator is the total number of days you spend outside the United States. None of your travel expenses for nonbusiness activities at, near, or beyond your business destination are deductible.

Example. Assume that the dates are the same as in the previous example but that instead of going to Dublin for your vacation, you fly to Venice, Italy, for a vacation. You cannot deduct any part of the cost of your trip from Paris to Venice and return to Paris. In addition, you cannot deduct 7/18 of the airfare and other expenses from New York to Paris and back to New York. You can deduct 11/18 of the round-trip plane fare and other travel expenses from New York to Paris, plus your meals, lodging, and any other business expenses you had in Paris. (Assume these expenses total $900). If the round-trip plane fare and other travel-related expenses (such as food during the trip) are $800 from New York to Paris, you can deduct travel costs of $489 ( 11/18 x $800), plus the full $900 for the expenses you had in Paris.

Other methods. You can use another method of counting business days if you establish that it more clearly reflects the time spent on nonbusiness activities outside the United States.

Travel Primarily for Vacation

If you travel outside the United States primarily for vacation or for investment purposes, the entire cost of the trip is a nondeductible personal expense. This is true even if you spend some time attending brief professional seminars or a continuing education program. You can, however, deduct your registration fees and any other expenses you have that are directly related to your business.

Example. The university from which you graduated has a continuing education program for members of its alumni association. This program consists of trips to various foreign countries where academic exercises and conferences are set up to acquaint individuals in most occupations with selected facilities in several regions of the world. However, none of the conferences are directed toward specific occupations or professions. It is up to each participant to seek out specialists and organizational settings appropriate to his or her occupational interests.

Three-hour sessions are held each day over a 5-day period at each of the selected overseas facilities where participants can meet with individual practitioners. These sessions are composed of a variety of activities including workshops, mini-lectures, role playing, skill development, and exercises. Professional conference directors schedule and conduct the sessions. Participants can choose those sessions they wish to attend.

You can participate in this program since you are a member of the alumni association. You and your family take one of the trips. You spend about 2 hours at each of the planned sessions. The rest of the time you go touring and sightseeing with your family. The trip lasts less than 1 week.

Your travel expenses for the trip are not deductible since the trip was primarily a vacation. However, registration fees and any other incidental expenses you have for the five planned sessions you attended that are directly related and beneficial to your business are deductible business expenses. These expenses should be specifically stated in your records to ensure proper allocation of your deductible business expenses.

Luxury Water Travel

If you travel by ocean liner, cruise ship, or other form of luxury water transportation for business purposes, there is a daily limit on the amount you can deduct. The limit is twice the highest federal per diem rate allowable at the time of your travel. (Generally, the federal per diem is the amount paid to federal government employees for daily living expenses when they travel away from home, but in the United States, for business purposes.)

Daily limit on luxury water travel. The highest federal per diem rate allowed and the daily limit for luxury water travel in 2000 is shown in the following table.

2000 Dates	Highest Federal Per Diem	Daily Limit on Luxury Water Travel
Jan.  1-Jun. 14	$ 244	$ 488
Jun. 15-Sep 15	253	506
Sep. 16-Dec. 31	244	448

Example. Caroline, a travel agent, traveled by ocean liner from New York to London, England, on business in May. Her expense for the 6-day cruise was $3,000. Caroline's deduction for the cruise cannot exceed $2,928 (6 days x $488 daily limit).

Meals and entertainment. If your expenses for luxury water travel include separately stated amounts for meals or entertainment, those amounts are subject to the 50% limit on meals and entertainment before you apply the daily limit. For a discussion of the 50% limit, see chapter 2.

Example. In the previous example, Caroline's luxury water travel had a total cost of $3,000. Of that amount, $1,600 was separately stated as meals and entertainment. Caroline, who is self-employed, is not reimbursed for any of her travel expenses. Caroline computes her deductible travel expenses as follows.

Meals and entertainment	$1,600
50% limit	x .50
Allowable meals & entertainment	$ 800
Other travel expenses	+ 1,400
Allowable cost before the daily limit		$2,200
Daily limit for May 2000	$488
Times number of days	x 6
Maximum luxury water travel deduction		$2,928
Amount of allowable deduction		$2,200

Caroline's deduction for her cruise is limited to $2,200, even though the limit on luxury water travel is higher.

Not separately stated. If your meal or entertainment charges are not separately stated or are not clearly identifiable, you do not have to allocate any portion of the total charge to meals or entertainment.

Exceptions

The per diem rule does not apply to expenses you have to attend a convention, seminar, or meeting on board a cruise ship. See Cruise ships, under Conventions Held Outside the North American Area.

Conventions

You can deduct your travel expenses when you attend a convention if you can show that your attendance benefits your trade or business. You cannot deduct the travel expenses for your family. If the convention is for investment, political, social, or other purposes unrelated to your trade or business, you cannot deduct the expenses. You cannot deduct nonbusiness expenses.

Your appointment or election as a delegate does not, in itself, determine whether you can deduct travel expenses. You can deduct your travel expenses only if your attendance is connected to your own trade or business.

Convention agenda. The convention agenda or program generally shows the purpose of the convention. You can show your attendance at the convention benefits your trade or business by comparing the agenda with the official duties and responsibilities of your position. The agenda does not have to deal specifically with your official duties and responsibilities; it will be enough if the agenda is so related to your position that it shows your attendance was for business purposes.

Conventions Held Outside the North American Area

You cannot deduct expenses for attending a convention, seminar, or similar meeting held outside the North American area unless the meeting is directly related to your trade or business. Also, it must be as reasonable to hold the meeting outside the North American area as in it. If the meeting meets these requirements, you also must satisfy the rules for deducting expenses for business trips in general, discussed earlier under Travel Outside the United States.

North American area. The North American area includes the following locations.

American Samoa	Kingman Reef
Baker Island	Marshall Islands
Barbados	Mexico
Bermuda	Micronesia
Canada	Midway Islands
Costa Rica	Northern Mariana
Dominica	Islands
Dominican Republic	Palau
Grenada	Palmyra
Guam	Puerto Rico
Guyana	Saint Lucia
Honduras	Trinidad and Tobago
Howland Island	USA
Jamaica	U.S. Virgin Islands
Jarvis Island	Wake Island
Johnston Island

Reasonableness test. The following factors are taken into account to determine if it was reasonable to hold the meeting outside the North American area.

1. The purpose of the meeting and the activities taking place at the meeting.
2. The purposes and activities of the sponsoring organizations or groups.
3. The homes of the active members of the sponsoring organizations and the places at which other meetings of the sponsoring organizations or groups have been or will be held.
4. Other relevant factors you may present.

Cruise ships. You can deduct up to $2,000 per year of your expenses of attending conventions, seminars, or similar meetings held on cruise ships. You must, however, establish that the meeting is directly related to your trade or business. All ships that sail are considered cruise ships.

You can deduct these expenses if all of the following requirements are met.

1. The cruise ship is a vessel registered in the United States.
2. All of the cruise ship's ports of call are in the United States or in possessions of the United States.
3. You attach to your return a written statement signed by you that includes information about:
   1. The total days of the trip, excluding the days of transportation to and from the cruise ship port,
   2. The number of hours each day that you devoted to scheduled business activities, and
   3. A program of the scheduled business activities of the meeting.

4. You attach to your return a written statement signed by an officer of the organization or group sponsoring the meeting that includes:
   1. A schedule of the business activities of each day of the meeting, and
   2. The number of hours you attended the scheduled business activities.

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