Travel expenses are the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for your business, profession, or job. Employees deduct these expenses on Schedule A, Form 1040.

You are traveling away from home if your duties require you to be away from the general area of your tax home for a period substantially longer than an ordinary day's work and you need to get sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away.

Generally, your tax home is the entire city or general area where your main place of business or work is located, regardless of where you maintain your family home. For example, you live with your family in Chicago but work in Milwaukee where you stay in a hotel and eat in restaurants. You return to Chicago every weekend. You may not deduct any of your travel, meals, or lodging in Milwaukee because that is your tax home. Your travel on weekends to your family home in Chicago is not for your work, so these expenses are also not deductible. If you regularly work in more than one place, your tax home is the general area where your main place of business or work is located.

You cannot deduct expenses that are lavish or extravagant or that are for personal purposes. Also, you may not deduct travel expenses at a temporary work location if it is expected that you will work there for more than one year.

Some deductible travel expenses while away from home include the costs of:

1. Travel by airplane, train, bus, or car between your home and your business destination,
2. Operating and maintaining your car,
3. Fares for taxi's or other types of transportation between the airport or train station and your hotel, from one customer to another, or from one place of business to another,
4. Meals and lodging, and
5. Tips you pay for any of these expenses.

The deduction for business meals is generally limited to 50% of the cost.

Instead of keeping records of your meal expenses and deducting the actual cost, you can generally use a standard meal allowance ranging from $30 (for most areas in the United States) to $46, depending on where you travel.

You may deduct travel expenses, including meals and lodging, you had in looking for a new job in your present trade or business. You may not deduct these expenses if you had them while looking for work in a new trade or business, or while looking for work for the first time. If you are unemployed and there is a substantial break between the time of your past work and your looking for new work, you may not deduct these expenses, even if the new work is in the same trade or business as your previous work. Travel expenses for conventions are deductible if you can show that your attendance benefits your trade or business.

If you are an employee, your allowable travel expenses are figured on Form 2106 or 2106-EZ. Unreimbursed expenses are carried from Form 2106 or 2106-EZ to Schedule A, Form l040, subject to a limit based on 2% of adjusted gross income. See Topic 508 for information on the 2% limit. If you do not itemize your deductions, you cannot deduct these expenses. If you are self-employed, travel expenses are deductible on Schedule C, C-EZ, or, if you are a farmer, Schedule F, Form 1040.

Good records are essential. See Topic 305 for information on record keeping.

For more information on travel expenses, refer to Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift and Car Expenses or Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax, Chapter 28. Publications and forms may be downloaded from this site or ordered by calling 1-800-829-3676.

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