Other Work Issues

questions & answers

Question: if i was to be offered living allowances by my company while travelling but returned home could this be seen as an act of fraud

Answer:

Travel expenses paid or incurred in connection with a temporary work assignment away from home are deductible. However, travel expenses paid in connection with an indefinite work assignment are not deductible. Any work assignment in excess of one year is considered indefinite.

Also, you may not deduct travel expenses at a work location if it is realistically expected that you will work there for more than one year, whether or not you actually work there that long. If you realistically expect to work at a temporary location for one year or less, and the expectation changes so that at some point you realistically expect to work there for more than one year, travel expenses become nondeductible when your expectation changes. http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc511.html

Deductible travel expenses while away from home include, but are not limited to, the costs of:
1.Travel by airplane, train, bus, or car between your home and your business destination. (If you are provided with a ticket or you are riding free as a result of a frequent traveler or similar program, your cost is zero.)
2.Using your car while at your business destination. You can deduct actual expenses or the standard mileage rate, as well as business-related tolls and parking fees. If you rent a car, you can deduct only the business-use portion for the expenses.
3.Fares for taxis or other types of transportation between the airport or train station and your hotel, the hotel and the work location, and from one customer to another, or from one place of business to another.
4.Meals and lodging.
5.Tips you pay for services related to any of these expenses.
6.Dry cleaning and laundry.
7.Business calls while on your business trip (This includes business communications by fax machine or other communication devices).
8.Other similar ordinary and necessary expenses related to your business travel (These expenses might include transportation to and from a business meal, public stenographer's fees, computer rental fees, and operating and maintaining a house trailer).
9.Shipping of baggage, and sample or display material between your regular and temporary work locations.
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc511.html

Refer to IRS Publication 535, Business Expenses: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Deducting-Business-Expenses