- Do you have a business reason for your travel?
- If you’re traveling for a personal reason or for a vacation, you cannot deduct those expenses.
- If you have a business purpose for your travels, you can certainly write those expenses off.
Hi, everyone. It’s Shauna, your Tax Goddess, and today I’m here to talk to you about how to write off your travel. Now, for any of you that know me, you know that I love to travel. I am absolutely passionate about travel. So far I’ve been to 43 countries around the world, and I’m hoping to add another five this summer. I am so very excited! If you feel like checking it out, make sure you check out our sister site, WithoutBags.com. This site talks about all the travel, all the places I’ve been, all the awesome travel tips, tricks and hacks, and all those other pieces; but today, here on Tax Goddess, we are talking about how to write off your travels.
Many people ask me, “Well, Shauna, 43 countries. I mean, my goodness. It’s probably rather expensive to travel.” Well, it is and it isn’t, right? The first question is, do you have a business reason for your travel. If you’re traveling, obviously, if it’s for a personal reason or for a vacation, those things normally aren’t deductible, so you definitely want to make sure that you have a business purpose for your travels. Are you going to meet with a client? Are you going to meet with one of your vendors? Are you going for some special education or some other reason? One of the things to make sure of is that you have a business purpose for your travel.
Now, if you happen to be a travel blogger, or if you happen to work remotely, your ability to write off travel is a little bit different than the normal person who has a brick and mortar business located in a physical location. So definitely make sure that you are checking with your CPA or your tax preparer. You want to make sure that you’re writing and tracking all of the expenses that you absolutely need to track to be able to write that off, and if you’re not, you could run into some serious issues with the IRS. Make sure that you have a business reason for your travel and documentation as to why that particular travel was necessary. So, why the hotel; why the flights; why the business expenses while you’re overseas or anywhere outside of your home city are going to be deductible for you.
If you have any questions, make sure that you reach out to your CPA, your tax preparer, or if you have any questions reach out to us here at Tax Goddess. Check out our other channel, Without Bags. If you love to travel, come join me on my adventures. This summer we will be going to Ireland, Scotland, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Iceland, Norway, Denmark. Please come join us at WithoutBags.com or on Facebook to follow us live and check out all the awesome things we’re going to see this summer. All right. Thanks so much everybody, and I hope you guys are having a wonderful Saturday.
