DEDUCT YOUR VACATION BILL WALSTON
What the IRS Doesn’t Want You to Know About Your Next Vacation
o work’s beginning to drag and your mind is on vacation! How does that fit into your “tax deductible”
lifestyle?
Here’s the scoop: the IRS says that you can deduct expenses for taking a business trip. There is no reason
the trip shouldn’t coincide with your next vacation. With proper planning, you get your business to pay for and
write off most of your trip!
For starters, the primary purpose and intent of the trip must be business. If there is no business purpose for
your trip none of your expenses will be deductible. Now, as real estate investors, unless the destination is
completely random, chances are you’ll find a way to do business there. Secondly, your expenses will need to
be allocated between business days and vacation days. Our goal is to document as many business days as
possible at our chosen destination.
Establishing a Business Day
A business day is defined as any of the following:
1.
any day you are traveling to or from a business destination
2.
a day when you have a pre-scheduled appointment
(regardless of the length of time spent at that appointment),
or
3.
a day when you spend at least four hours on business
What You Can Deduct
Generally, you can deduct all of your travel expenses if your trip
was entirely business related. Now, travel expenses include both