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 (figure a reduced amount for each day). You can do so by one of two methods.

1. Method 1: You can claim ¾ of the standard meal allowance, or
2. Method 2: You can prorate using 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 2½ days of the standard meal allowance for Washington, DC: ¾ 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 have to use method 1 and be limited to only 21/ 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 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 personal side trip, or had other personal 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 round-trip transportation to and from New Orleans. The deduction for 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 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 for travel in the United States. 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 when 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.

See chapter 1 of Publication 463 for information on luxury water travel.

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. The fact that you control the timing of your trip does not, by itself, mean that you have substantial control over arranging your trip.

You do not 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 Who cannot use the 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.

Exception 3 - Less than 25% of time on personal activities.   Your trip is considered entirely for business if:

1. You were outside the United States for more than a week, and
2. 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.

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 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 make an allocation between your business and nonbusiness activities to determine your deductible amount. These travel allocation rules are discussed in chapter 1 of Publication 463.

You do not have to allocate your travel expense deduction 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 Primarily for Personal Reasons

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. If you spend some time attending brief professional seminars or a continuing education program, you can deduct your registration fees and other expenses you have that are directly related to your business.

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 nonbusiness purposes, you cannot deduct the 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.   See chapter 1 of Publication 463 for information on conventions held outside the North American area.

Entertainment Expenses

You may be able to deduct business-related entertainment expenses you have for entertaining a client, customer, or employee.

You can deduct entertainment expenses only if they are both ordinary and necessary (defined earlier) and meet one of the following two tests.

1. Directly-related test.
2. Associated test.

Both of these tests are explained in Publication 463.

The amount you can deduct for entertainment expenses may be limited. Generally, you can deduct only 50% of your unreimbursed entertainment expenses. This limit is discussed later under 50% Limit.

Club dues and membership fees.   You cannot deduct dues (including initiation fees) for membership in any club organized for:

1. Business,
2. Pleasure,
3. Recreation, or
4. Other social purpose.

This rule applies to any membership organization if one of its principal purposes is either:

1. To conduct entertainment activities for members or their guests, or
2. To provide members or their guests with access to entertainment facilities.

The purposes and activities of a club, not its name, will determine whether or not you can deduct the dues. You cannot deduct dues paid to:

1. Country clubs,
2. Golf and athletic clubs,
3. Airline clubs,
4. Hotel clubs, and
5. Clubs operated to provide meals under circumstances generally considered to be conducive to business discussions.

Entertainment.   Entertainment includes any activity generally considered to provide entertainment, amusement, or recreation. Examples include entertaining guests at nightclubs; at social, athletic, and sporting clubs; at theaters; at sporting events; on yachts; or on hunting, fishing, vacation, and similar trips. You cannot deduct expenses for entertainment that are lavish or extravagant. If you buy a ticket to an entertainment event for a client, you generally cannot deduct more than the face value of the ticket, even if you paid a higher price.

Gift or entertainment.   Any item that might be considered either a gift or entertainment generally will be considered entertainment. However, if you give a customer packaged food or beverages that you intend the customer to use at a later date, treat it as a gift.

If you give a customer tickets to a theater performance or sporting event and you do not go with the customer to the performance or event, you have a choice. You can treat the cost of the tickets as either a gift expense or an entertainment expense, whichever is to your advantage.

You can change your treatment of the tickets at a later date by filing an amended return. Generally, an amended return must be filed within 3 years from the date the original return was filed or within 2 years from the time the tax was paid, whichever is later.

If you go with the customer to the event, you must treat the cost of the tickets as an entertainment expense. You cannot choose, in this case, to treat the cost of the tickets as a gift expense.

Separating costs.   If you have one expense that includes the costs of entertainment, and other services (such as lodging or transportation), you must allocate that expense between the cost of entertainment and the cost of other services. You must have a reasonable basis for making this allocation. For example, you must allocate your expenses if a hotel includes entertainment in its lounge on the same bill with your room charge.

A meal as a form of entertainment.   Entertainment includes the cost of a meal you provide to a customer or client, whether the meal is a part of other entertainment or by itself. A meal expense includes the cost of food, beverages, taxes, and tips for the meal. To deduct an entertainment-related meal, you or your employee must be present when the food or beverages are provided.

You cannot claim the cost of your meal both as an entertainment expense and as a travel expense.

Taking turns paying for meals or entertainment.   If a group of business acquaintances take turns picking up each others' meal or entertainment checks without regard to whether any business purposes are served, no member of the group can deduct any part of the expense.

Trade association meetings.   You can deduct expenses for entertainment that are directly related to, and necessary for, attending business meetings or conventions of certain exempt organizations if the expenses of your attendance are related to your active trade or business. These organizations include business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, trade associations, and professional associations.

Additional information.   For more information on entertainment expenses, including discussions of the directly-related and associated tests, see chapter 2 of Publication 463.

50% Limit

In general, you can deduct only 50% of your business-related meal and entertainment expenses. (If you are subject to the Department of Transportation's hours of service limits, you can deduct a higher percentage. See Individuals subject to hours of service limits, later.)

The 50% limit applies to employees or their employers, and to self-employed persons (including independent contractors) or their clients, depending on whether the expenses are reimbursed.

Figure 28-A summarizes the general rules explained in this section.

The 50% limit applies to business meals or entertainment expenses you have while:

1. Traveling away from home (whether eating alone or with others) on business,
2. Entertaining customers at your place of business, a restaurant, or other location, or
3. Attending a business convention or reception, business meeting, or business luncheon at a club.

Included expenses.   Expenses subject to the 50% limit include:

• Taxes and tips relating to a business meal or entertainment activity,
• Cover charges for admission to a nightclub,
• Rent paid for a room in which you hold a dinner or cocktail party, and
• Amounts paid for parking at a sports arena.

However, the cost of transportation to and from a business meal or a business-related entertainment activity is not subject to the 50% limit.

Application of 50% limit.   The 50% limit on meal and entertainment expenses applies if the expense is otherwise deductible and is not covered by one of the exceptions discussed later in this section.

The 50% limit also applies to certain meal and entertainment expenses that are not business-related. It applies to meal and entertainment expenses incurred for the production of income, including rental or royalty income. It also applies to the cost of meals included in deductible educational expenses.

When to apply the 50% limit.   You apply the 50% limit after determining the amount that would otherwise qualify for a deduction. You first determine the amount of meal and entertainment expenses that would be deductible under the other rules discussed in this chapter.

Example 1.   You spend $100 for a business-related meal. If $40 of that amount is not allowable because it is lavish and extravagant, the remaining $60 is subject to the 50% limit. Your deduction cannot be more than $30 (.50 × $60).

Example 2.   You purchase two tickets to a concert and give them to a client. You purchased the tickets through a ticket agent. You paid $150 for the two tickets, which had a face value of $60 each ($120 total). Your deduction cannot be more than $60 (.50 × $120).

Exceptions to the 50% Limit

Generally, business-related meal and entertainment expenses are subject to the 50% limit. Figure 28-A can help you determine if the 50% limit applies to you.

Your meal or entertainment expense is not subject to the 50% limit if the expense meets either of the following exceptions.

Employee's reimbursed expenses.   If you are an employee, you are not subject to the 50% limit on the amount of expenses for which your employer reimburses you under an accountable plan. Accountable plans are discussed later under Reimbursements.

Individuals subject to hours of service limits.   You can deduct a higher percentage of your meal expenses if the meals take place during or incident to any period subject to the Department of Transportation's hours of service limits. The percentage is 65% for 2002, and it gradually increases to 80% by the year 2008.

Individuals subject to the Department of Transportation's hours of service limits include the following persons.

1. Certain air transportation workers (such as pilots, crew, dispatchers, mechanics, and control tower operators) who are under Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
2. Interstate truck operators and bus drivers who are under Department of Transportation regulations.
3. Certain railroad employees (such as engineers, conductors, train crews, dispatchers, and control operations personnel) who are under Federal Railroad Administration regulations.
4. Certain merchant mariners who are under Coast Guard regulations.

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