Introduction
You may be able to deduct the ordinary and necessary business-related expenses you have for:
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Travel,
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Entertainment,
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Gifts, or
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Transportation.
An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your field of trade, business, or profession. A necessary expense
is one that is
helpful and appropriate for your business. An expense does not have to be required to be considered necessary.
This publication explains:
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What expenses are deductible,
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How to report them on your return,
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What records you need to prove your expenses, and
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How to treat any expense reimbursements you may receive.
Who should use this publication.
You should read this publication if you are an employee or a sole proprietor who has business-related travel, entertainment,
gift, or
transportation expenses.
Users of employer-provided vehicles.
If an employer-provided vehicle was available for your use, you received a fringe benefit. Generally, your employer
must include the value of the
use or availability in your income as pay. However, there are exceptions if the use of the vehicle qualifies as a working
condition fringe benefit
(such as the use of a qualified nonpersonal use vehicle).
A working condition fringe benefit is any property or service provided to you by your employer for which you could
deduct the cost as an employee
business expense if you had paid for it.
A qualified nonpersonal use vehicle is one that is not likely to be used more than minimally for personal purposes
because of its design. Delivery
trucks with seating only for the driver, or only for the driver plus a folding jump seat, are qualified nonpersonal use vehicles.
For information on how to report your car expenses that your employer did not provide or reimburse you for (such as
when you pay for gas and
maintenance for a car your employer provides), see
Vehicle Provided by Your Employer in chapter 6.
Who does not need to use this publication.
Partnerships, corporations, trusts, and employers who reimburse their employees for business expenses should refer
to their tax form instructions
and chapter 13 of Publication 535, Business Expenses, for information on deducting travel, meals, entertainment, and transportation
expenses.
If you are an employee, you will not need to read this publication if all of the following are true.
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You fully accounted to your employer for your work-related expenses.
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You received full reimbursement for your expenses.
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Your employer required you to return any excess reimbursement and you did so.
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There is no amount shown with a code “L” in box 12 of your Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement.
If you meet these four conditions, there is no need to show the expenses or the reimbursements on your return. If you would
like more
information on reimbursements and accounting to your employer, see chapter 6.
If you meet these conditions and your employer included reimbursements on your Form W-2 in error, ask your employer for a
corrected Form W-2.
Volunteers.
If you perform services as a volunteer worker for a qualified charity, you may be able to deduct some of your costs
as a charitable contribution.
See
Out-of-Pocket Expenses in Giving Services in Publication 526, Charitable Contributions, for information on the expenses you can deduct.
Comments and suggestions.
We welcome your comments about this publication and your suggestions for future editions.
You can write to us at the following address:
Internal Revenue Service
Individual Forms and Publications Branch
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:I
1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6406
Washington, DC 20224
We respond to many letters by telephone. Therefore, it would be helpful if you would include your daytime phone number,
including the area code, in
your correspondence.
You can email us at
*[email protected]. (The asterisk must be included in the
address.) Please put “
Publications Comment” on the subject line. Although we cannot respond individually to each email, we do appreciate your
feedback and will consider your comments as we revise our tax products.
Tax questions.
If you have a tax question, visit
www.irs.gov or call 1-800-829-1040. We cannot answer tax questions at either
of the addresses listed above.
Ordering forms and publications.
Visit
www.irs.gov/formspubs
to download forms and publications, call 1-800-829-3676, or write to one of the three addresses shown under
How To Get Tax Help in the back
of this publication.
