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Home My WebLink AboutTRAVEL EXPENSE TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT Augusta Richmond GA DOCUMENT NAME: Iltl4VEL [;ypGNSES AoJO R.E:\~(3U<<gC::P1EAjT ~ Po l-ICY DOCUMENT TYPE: ? D II c ~ E S YEAR: t G9 ~ BOX NUMBER: '7 FILE NUMBER: } l.J ::2 ~ ':;t. NUMBER OF PAGES: f..o A. B. McKie, Jr., Comptroller Finance Department, Room 207 Donna B. Williams, Assistant Comptroller Accounting Department, Room 105 Finance Department 821-2429 Fax Number 821-2520 Accounting Department 821-2334 Fax Number 821-2855 530 Greene Street Augusta, Georgia 30911 A PfPf!:8OVED AUG 2 0 7996 (AUGUSTA-RICHMOND COUNTY COMMISSION) MEMORANDUM TO: Linda W, Beazley, Interim Administration Administrator A. B. (Butch) McKie, Jr., Interim Comptroller ~ FROM: DATE: July 25, 1996 SUBJECT: Finance Committee Agenda Item Travel Expenses and Reimbursement Policy At the next Finance Committee meeting, I would like to propose that the Travel Policy be revised to follow the Internal Revenue Service guidelines as presented in Publications 917 (Business Use of a Car) and 463 (Travel, Entertainment, and Gift Expenses), This will keep the Commission-Council from having to reevaluate the policy each year. Copies of the 1995 publications are attached with mileage reimbursement and meal allowance specifically highlighted, Enclosures r' , " ExMnpIa. YOWIre a banquet waitress.who works at, sevefallocations in your hometown area: You must appear. at the union hall,to re- celve' your work assignmenlfor the day. Al- though you need the union to get the job, you are employed where you worK, not where the union hall is located. You cannot deduct the trips from your union hall to your place of work. .' ., Parking teea. You cannot deduct fees you pay to park your car at your place of work. They are nondeductible commuting expenses. ',' " " I I '] , i OffIce In the home. If you have an office in your home that qualifies as a principal place of buslneBlJ, you can deduct your daily trans- portation costs between your home and an- other work location in the same trade or busi- ness. (See Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home, for informatio"n on determining if your home office qualifies as a principal place of business.) If your home office does not qualify as a principal place of business, follow the general rules explained earlier. Examples of Deductible Local Transportation The following examples illustrate when you can deduct local transportation expenses based on the location of your work and your home. Example t. Your office is in the same city as your home. You cannot deduct the cost of transportation between your home and your office; this is a personal commuting expense. You can deduct the cost of round-trip trans- portation between your office and a client's or customer's place of business, Example 2. You regularly work in an office in the city where you live, Your employer sends you to a one-week training session at a different office in the same city. You travel di- rectly from your home to the training location and return each day, You can deduct the cost of your daily round-trip transportation between your home and the training location. . Example 3. Your principal place of busi- ness is in your home. (The rules for "principal place of business" are discussed in Publica- tion 587, Business Use of Your Home,) You can deduct the round-trip business-related lo- cal transportation expenses between your qualifying home office and your client's or cus- tomer's place of business. You can only de- duct expenses for business transportation. .- Example 4. You have no regular office, and you do not have an office in your home. In this case, the location of your first business contact is considered your office. Transporta- tion,expenses between your home and this first contact are nondeductible commuting ex- penses, In addition, transportation.expenses between your I~t business, contact and your hol!le.8!e,al~ ~~ed~ctible commuting ex- penses.:~oughyou cannot deduct the costs ~~.t,h,esa ~p.s, you ~ deduct the costS ~of go- ing from one ,client Ol; 9Usto~Jo ano~r. 2. What Car Expenses Are Deductible This chapter discusses what deductions you can claim for the business use of your car. , Most persons can choose to use the standard mileage rate or the actual expenses of operat- ing their car, Both methods are discussed in this chapter, Whether you use the standard mileage rate or actual expenses, you must maintain records to show the business use and total use of your car as well as its cost See Chapter 4 for more information on record keeping. Tax Incentives for clean-fuel vehicles. You may be entitled to a tax credit for an electric vehicle or a deduction from gross income for a part of the cost of a clean-fuel vehicle if you place one of these vehicles in service after June 30, 1993. The vehicle must meet certain requirements, and you do not have to use it in your business to qualify for the credit or the de- duction, However, you must reduce your basis for depreciation of the clean-fuel vehicle prop- erty by the amount of the credit or deduction you claim" See Depreciation Deduction, later, For more information on clean-fuel vehicles, see Chapter 15 of Publication 535, Business Expenses, Standard Mileage Rate. You may be able to use the standard mileage rate tQ figure the deductible costs of operating your car, van, pickup, or panel truck for busi- ness purposes. For 1995, the standard mileage rate is 30 csnts a mO. for 'all business miles (45 cents a mile for U,S, Postal Service employees with ru- ral routes). These rates are adjusted periodi- cally for inflation. If you choose to take the standard mileage rate, you cannot deduct actual operating ex- penses. These include depreciation, mainte- nance and repairs, gasoline (including gaso- line taxes), oil, insurance, and vehicle registration fees, You generally can use the standard mile- age rate whether or not you are reimbursed and whether or not any reimbursement is more or less than the amount figured using the stan- dard mileage rate. See Chapter 5 for more in- formation on reimbursements. Choosing the standard mileage rate. If you want to use the standard mileage rate for a car, you must choose to use it in the first year you place the car in service in business. Then in, later years, you can choose to use the stan- dard mileage rate or actual expenses..,.~ ' . ,', ,Page'4 ~er:.~:.iWt:lAr.CAR:EXPENSES ARE DEDUCTIBLE " If you choose to use the standard mileage rate, you are considered to have made ,an election not to use the depreciation methods discussed later. This is because the standard mileage rate allows for depreciation, You also cannot claim the section 179 deduction (dis- cussed later). If you change to the actual ex- pen5l*i method in a later year, but before your car is ,considered fully depreciated, you have to estl!l1ate the useful life of the car and use straight.line depreciation, See the exception in Methods of depreciation under Depreciation Deduction, later. Standard mileage rate not allowed. You cannot use the standard mileage rate if you: 1) Do not own the car, 2) Use the car for hire (such as a taxi), 3) Operate two or more cars at the same time (as in fleet operations), 4) Claimed a deduction for the car in an ear- lier year using: a) ACRS or MACRS depreciation (dis- cussed later), or b) A section 179 deduction (discussed later). Two or more cars. If you own two or more cars that are used for business at the same time, you cannot take the standard mileage rate for the business use of any car, However, you may be able to deduct a part of the actual expenses for operating each of the cars. See Actual Car Expenses for information on how to figure your deduction. You are not using two or more cars for business at the same time if you alternate us- ing (use at different times) the cars for business, The following examples illustrate the rules for when you can and cannot use the standard mileage rate for two or more cars. Example 1. Marcia, a salesperson, owns a car and a van that she alternates using for call- ing on her customers. She can take the. stan- dard mileage rate for the business mileage of the car and the van. Example 2. Tony uses his own pickup truck in his landscaping business. During 1995, he traded in his old truck for a newer one, Tony can take the standard mileage rate for the business mileage of both the old and the new trucks, Example 3. Chris owns 'a repair shop and an insurance business. He uses his pickup truck for the repair shop and his car for the in- surance business. No one else uses either the pickup truck or the car for business purposes. Chris can take the standard mileage rate for the business use of the truck and the car. Example 4. Maureen owns a car and a van that are both used in her housecleaning business, Her employees use the car and she uses the van to travel to the various custom- ers. Maureen cannot take the standard mile- age rate for the car or the van. This is because both vehicles are used in Maureen's business at the same time. She must use actual ex- penses.for both vehicles, ,....;_.=~~~~1ol1 .............tL"'l.ol.Jo"oL_-U-_."'.r, T~-=::r-~ t. II ~{:d;;;j~~iii:.~'J~ J . ......~~.l... .' _.JllC'_".,~unu.w.~........~~~ ,.~. ,., ---........_'-:- ---. ~ - ~_.- ......- .... Table 2. Locatlon.,EJlglblefor Higher St8ndard Melia Allowance KEY CITY' DISTRICT of COLUMBIA Washington, DC .., ' . ; .' COUNTY ILOCAno..... AMOUNT ALAIMIIA ~ Jefferson $ 30 Baldwin 30 Hunstvtlle Madison 34 MobIle Mobile 34 Sheffield Colbert 30 ARIZONA Casa Grande Pinal 30 Chinle Apache 30 Aa~taff/Grand Canyon COconino 30 Nat'l PartUKaibab Nat'l Forest Phoenix/Scottsdale Maricopa 34 Prescott Yav~ 30 Sierra Vista Cochise 30 Tucson Pima; Davis-Monthan AFB 30 ARKANSAS t\m:W~s Garland 30 Pulaski 30 T exarkana Miller 30 CAUFORNIA Bri~geport Mono 34 ChiCO Butte 30 C1ear1ake Lake 30 Death Valley Inyo 38 EICentro Imperial 30 Eureka Humboldt 30 Fresno Fresno 30 Gualala/Point Arena Mendocino 38 Los Angeles Los Angeles, Kern, Oran~e 38 & Ventura; Edwards A B; China Lake Naval Center Merced Merced 34 Modesto Stanislaus 34 Monterey Monterey 34 N~a Napa 34 Oa land Alameda, Contra Costa, 38 Marin Ontario/Barstow/ San Bernardino 34 Victorville Palm s~n~ Riverside 34 Palo A 0/ Jose Santa Clara 38 Redding Shasta 34 RedwoOd City/San Mateo San Mateo 38 Sacramento Sacramento 38 San Diego San Diego 38 San Francisco San Francisco 38 San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo 34 Santa Barbara Santa Barbara 34 Santa Cruz Santa Cruz 34 Santa Rosa Sonoma 38 South Lake T shoe EI Dorado 38 Stockton San Joaquin 34 Tahoe City Placer 38 Vallejo Solano 30 Visaha Tulare 34 West Sacramento Yolo 30 Yosemite Nat'l Park Mariposa 38 Yuba City Sutter 30 COLORADO Aspen Pitkin 38 Boulder Boulder 34 Denver Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, 38 Jefferson Durango La Plata 34 GlenwOOd Springs Garfield 30 Grand Junction Mesa 30 Keystone/Silverthorne Summit 38 pagosa Springs Archuleta 30 Steamboat Springs Routt 34 Vail Eagle 38 CONNECnCUT B~eportlDanbUry Fairfield 34 H oil:! Hartford, Middlesex 38 New Haven New Haven 34 New London/Groton New London 30 Salisbury Utchfield 38 Vernon T olland 30 -DELAWARE Lewes Sussex 34 Wilmington New Castle 34 FLORIDA A1tamonte Springs Cocoa Beach Daytona Beach Fort Lauderdale Fort Myers Fort Pierce Fort Walton Beach Gainesville Jacksonville Key West Kissimmee Miami Naples Orlando Panama City Pensacola Punta Garda Saint Augustine Sarasota Stuart Tallahassee Tamra/St. Petersburg Wes Palm Beach GEORGIA Albany Atlanta Macon Norcross/ Lawrenceville Savannah IDAHO Boise Idaho Falls Ketchum/Sun Valley McCall Pocatello Stanley ILLINOIS Alton Bloomington Champ81gn/Urbana Chicago Decatur Peoria Rockford Springfield INDIANA Bloomington/Crane Carmel Columbus Evansville Fort Wayne Gary Greenwood Indianapolis Lafayette Nasfwille IOWA Bettendorl/Davenport Cedar Rapids Des Moines Dubuque Iowa City Waterloo KANSAS Kansas City Wichita COUNTY ILOCAnONI,J AMOUNT Vi'Rinia counties of $ 38 rlingtonNLoudoun, and Fairlax A 0 the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church M~land counties of Prince George's and Montgomery Seminole 30 Brevard 34 Volusia 30 Broward 34 Lee 34 Saint Lucie 30 Okaloosa 30 Alachua 34 Duval; Naval Station 30 Mayport Monroe 38 Osceola 30 Dade 38 Collier 34 Orange 30 Bay 30 Escambia 30 Charlotte 30 Saint Johns 30 Sarasota 30 Martin 30 Leon 30 Hillsborou~, Pinellas 30 Palm Beac 34 DO~he% 30 Cia on, bb, De Kalb, 38 ulton Bibb 30 Gwinnett 38 Chatham 30 Ada 34 Bonneville 30 Blaine 34 Valley 30 Bannock 30 Custer 30 Madison 30 McLean 30 Champai9&, 30 Du Page. ok, Lake 38 Macon 30 Peoria 30 Winnebago 34 Sangamon 30 Monroe, Martin 30 Hamilton 38 Bartholomew 30 Vanderburgh 30 Allen 30 Lake 30 Johnson 30 Marion; Fort Benjamin 34 Harrison Tippecanoe 30 Brown 30 Scott 30 Unn 30 Polk 30 Dubuque 30 Johnson 30 Black Hawk 30 JOhnsonkVVyandotte 34 Sedgwic 30 Chapter 1 TRAVEL EXPENSES ~~e7 Table 2. (Continued) KEY CITY' COUNTY /LOCAnONu AMOUNT KENTUCKY ~reen Warren $30 Kenton 34 FJorerice Boone 30 ~: Fahette 30 Je arson 34 Paducah McCracken 30 LOUISIANA AJexandria Rapldes 30 Baton Rouge East Baton Rouge 30 Lafayette Lafayette 30 Monroe OuaChita 30 New Orleans Jefferson, Orleans, 34 Shreveport Plaquemines, Sl Bernard Caddo 30 Slidell Sl Tammany 30 MAINE Augusta Kennebec 30 ~arbor Penobscot 30 Hancock 34 Bath Sa~dahOC 30 Kennebunk/Sanford Yo 30 ~~ Portsmouth Naval Shipyard 34 Cumberland 30 Rockport Knox 30 Wlscasset Uncoln 30 MARYLAND (See also Dls rlc.t of Columbia) Annapolis Anne Arundel 38 Baltimore Baltimore, Harford 38 Columbia Howard 38 Easton Talbot 30 Frederick Frederick 34 H~rstown Washington 30 . L Y Calvert 34 Ocean City Worcester 38 Salisbu Wicomico 30 . Tower ~arden on Bay Queen Anne's 30 Waldorf Charles 30 MASSACHUSETTS Andover Essex 34 Boston Suffolk 38 Cambridge/Lowell Middlesex 38 ~annis Barnstable 34 artha's Vineyard/ Dukes, Nantucket 38 Nantucket Pittsfield Berkshire 30 Quincy Norfolk 30 South Deerfieldl Franklin 30 Greenfield ~ringfield Hampden 30 orcester Worcester 30 MICHIGAN Ann Arbor Washtenaw 30 Battle Creek Calhoun 30 Charlevoix Charlevoix 30 Detroit Wayne 38 Flint Genesee 30 Grand Rapids Kent 30 Kalamazoo Kalamazoo 30 Lansing/East Lansing Ingham 30 Mackinac Island Mackinac 38 Pontiac/Troy Oakland 38 Port Huron Sl Clair 34 Saginaw Saginaw 30 Sl ;Joseph/Niles/ Berrien 30 Benton Harbor Traverse City Grand Traverse 30 MINNESOTA Bemidji Beltram! 30 Brainerd Crow Wing 30 Duluth Sl Louis 34 Grand R~ldS ltasca 30 Mendota e~hts Dakota 30 Minneapolis l Paul Anoka, HennepinR Ramsey; 34 Detachment B AVO at Rochester Fort Snelling, Rosemount Olmsted' 30 Sl Cloud Steams 30 KEY CITY' ' COUNTY /LOCAnONu AMOUNT MISSISSIPPI Blloxl/Bay Sl Louis/ Harrison, JackSOn, Hancock $ 30 Gulfport/Pascagoula Jackson Hinds 30 Rldgeland Madison 38 VicKsburg Warren 30 MISSOURI Branson Taney 30 Kansas City Clay, Jackson, Platte 34 Lake Ozark Miller 34 Osage Beach Camden 30 Seringfield Greene 30 S Louis Sl Charles, St Louis 38 NEBRASKA Omaha Douglas 30 NEVADA Elko Elko 30 Las Vegas Clark; Nellis AFB 38 Reno Washoe 30 Stateline Douglas 38 NEW HAMPSHIRE Conway Carroll 34 Comlsh Sullivan 34 Hanover Grafton 34 Laconia Belknap 30 Manchester HiIIsborough 30 Portsmouth/Newington Rockingham; Pease AFB 34 NEW JERSEY Atiantic Ci~ Atlantic 38 Belle Mea Somerset 34 Camden Camden 34 Edison Middlesex 38 Freehold/ Eatontown Monmouth; Fort Monmouth 34 Millville Cumberland 30 Moorestown Burlington 38 Newark Bergen, Essex, Hudson, 38 Ocean City/Qape May Passaic, Union Cape May 34 parslprcany./Dover Morris; Plcatinny Arsenal 38 Prince on Trenton Mercer 34 Tom's River Ocean 30 NEW MEXICO Albuquerque Bemalillo 34 Fanmngton San Juan 30 Las Cnices/White Sands Dona Ana 30 Los Alamos Los Alamos 30 Santa Fe Santa Fe 34 Taos Taos 34 NEW YORK Albany Albany 34 B~hamPton Broome 34 B a10 Erie 34 Catskill Greene 30 Coming Steuben 34 Elmira Chemung 30 Glens Falls Warren 34 Ithaca Tompkins 30 Jamestown Chautauqua 30 Kingston Ulster 30 Lake Placid Essex 30 Monticello Sullivan 30 New York City Manhattan, Staten Island. 38 Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens; Niagara Falls Nassau, Suffolk Nia~a 30 Palisades/ Nyack Roc land 34 Plattsburgh Clinton 30 p~hkeepsie Dutchess 30 Rester Monroe 34 Saratoga Springs Saratoga 38 Schenectady Schenectady 34 Syracuse Onondaga 34 Troy Rensselaer 34 Utica Oneida 30 Watertown Jefferson 30 Watkins Glen Schuyler 30 West Point Orange 30 White Plains Westchester 38 'dlfJlge 8 'Chapter 1 TRAVEL EXPENSES Table 2. (Continued) KEY CITY' COUNTY /LOCATlONu AMOUNT TENNESSEE Gatlinb~ Sevier $ 30 Johnson . Washington 30 Klngsportl ristol Sullivan 30 Knoxville Knox; city of Oak Ridge 30 Memphis Shelby 34 Nashville Davidson 30 TEXAS Amarillo Potter 30 Austin Travis 34 Beaumont Jefferson 30 Brownsville Cameron 30 Coffsus Christi/lngelside Nueces, San Patricio 30 DaI as/Fort Wortfj Dallas, Tarrant 34 Denton Denton 30 . EI Paso EIPaso 30 Galveston Galveston 38 Houston Harris; LBJ S~ace Center; 38 Ellington A B 30 La'itas Brewster Lal-edO Webb 30 Piano Collin 30 San Antonio Bexar 34 Texarkana Bowie 30 UTAH Bullfr~ Garfield 30 Cedar ty Iron 30 Provo Utah 30 Salt Lake City/Ogden Salt Lake, Weber, Davis; 30 Dugway Proving Ground; Tooele Army Depot VERMONT Burlin~On Chittenden 30 Middl ury Addison 30 Rutland Rutland 30 White River Junction Windsor 30 VIRGINIA (See also District of Columbia) Charlottesville 38 Fredericksburg 30 ~nChbUrg 30 anassas/ Manassas Prince William 30 Park NorfOlk/Vir~nia Beach/ Virginia Beach 34 Portsmout /Chesapeake Richmond Chesterfield, Henrico; 34 Defense Supply Center 30 Roanoke Roanoke Wallops Island Accomack 30 Warrenton/ Amissville Fauquier, Rap~ahonnock 30 Williamsburg/Hampton/ Williamsburgs ork; Naval 34 Newport News Weapons tation, Yorktown Wintergreen Nelson 38 WASHINGTON Anacortes/Ml Vemon Skagit 30 Bellingham Whatcom 34 Bremerton K"~ 30 Friday Harbor ~n uan 38 Kelso/ Lon.?E:ew Cowlitz 30 Lynnwood verett Snohomish 34 Port Angeles Clallam 34 Port Townsend Jefferson 30 Rlchland Benton 34 Seattle Kin~ 38 Spokane ~ ane 30 Tumwater /Olympia urston 34 Vancouver Clark 34 Whldbey Island Island 30 Yakima Yakima 30 WEST VIRGINIA Charleston Kanawha 30 Harpers Ferry Jefferson 30 Martinsburg Berkeley 30 Morgantown Monongalia 30 Parkersburg Wood 30 KEY CITY' COUNTY /LOCATlOtfU AMOUNT NORTH CAROUNA Asheville Buncombe $ 30 Charlotte Mecklenburg 34 Duck Dare 30 Greensboro/High Point . GuiUord 30 Greenville Pitt 30 Morehead City Carteret 30 Raleigh/Chapel HiII/ Wake, Durham, Orange 34 Durham/Re~chPark Winston-Salem Forsyth 30 NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck/Mandan Burleigh, Morton 30 Fargo Cass 30 OHIO Akron Summit 34 Cincinnati/Evendale Hamilton, Warren 34 Cleveland Cuyahoga 38 Columbus Franklin 34 Dayton/Fairbom Montgomery, Greene; 30 Elyria Wnght.patterson AFB 30 Lorain Port Clinton/Oakhartlor Ottawa 30 SanduSkft Erie 30 Sp~e d Clark 30 Tol 0 Lucas 30 Warren Trumbull 30 OKLAHOMA Tulsa/Bartlesville Osage, Tulsa, Washington 30 OREGON Ashland/Medford Jackson 30 Beaverton washin~ton 34 Bend Deschu es 30 Eugene Lane 30 Uncoln City/Newport Uncoln 30 Portland Multnomah 30 Seaside Clatsop 30 PENNSYLVANIA Allentown Lehigh 34 Bloomsburg Columbia 30 Chester/Radnor Delaware 38 Erie Erie 30 Ge~burg Adams 30 Hamsburg Dauphin 34 Ki~f Prussia/ Montgomery 34 Fl ashington Lancaster Lancaster 30 Lebanon Lebanon; Indian Town Gap 30 Mil. Res. Mechanicsburg Cumberland 30 Philadelphia Philadelphia 34 Pittsburgh Allegheny 34 Reading Berks 30 Scranton Lackawanna 30 Shipping port Beaver 30 Somerset Somerset 30 State College Centre 30 Stroudsburg Monroe 30 Valley Forge/Malvem Chester 38 Warminster Bucks; Naval Air Center 30 Wilkes-Barre Luzeme 30 Williamsport !1ccoming 30 York ork 30 RHODE ISLAND East Greenwich Kent; Naval Construction 34 Center in Davisville N8Wp!)rt N~rt 38 PrOVidence PrOVidence 34 SOUTH CAROUNA Charleston Charleston, Berkeley 34 Columbia Richland 30 Hilton Head Beaufort 34 Myrtle Beach Horry; Myrtle Beach AFB 30 SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid Ci~ Pennington 30 Sioux FaI s Minnehaha 30 Chapter 1 TRAVEL EXPENSES Page 9 " ", . Table 2. (Continued) KEY CITY' COUNTY/LOCATIO..... AMOUNT WISCONSIN ~pleton Outagamie $ 30 Brookfield WauKesha 34 Eau Claire Eau Claire 30 La Crosse La Crosse 30 Lake Geneva Walworth 34 Madison Dane 30 Milwaukee Milwaukee 30 Oshkosh Winnebago 30 KEY CITY' ' . ,COUNTY/LOCATIO..... AMOUNT WISCONSIN (cont'd) $ 30 Racine/Kenosha Racine. Kenosha Wisconsin Dells Columbia 34 WYOMING Casper Natrona 30 Cheyenne laramie 30 Jackson Teton 34 Rock Springs Sweetwater 30 , Includes ai/locations wlthIn, Of entirely surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city, including independent entities within those boundaries. 'Includes all locations wlthIn, Of entirety surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city as well as the boundaries of the listed counties (including parishes or boroughs). This includes independent entities wlthIn those boundaries. · MUitary Installations or Govemment-related facilities located psrtIy wlthIn the city or county boundary shall include all locations that are geographically part of the installation/facility, even though part(s) may be outside the boundary, ' Standard meal allowance not allowed. You cannot use the standard meal aUowance to prove the amount of your meals if you are trav- eling for medical or charitable purposes. 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 ex- penses depends on how much of your trip was business related and on how much of your trip occurred within the United States. Trip Primarily for Business You can deduct all of 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 nonbusiness side trip, or had other nonbusiness activities, you can deduct your business-related travel ex- penses. These expenses include the travel costs of getting to and from your business des- tination 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, in- cluding the cost of round-trip transportation to and from New Orleans. The cost of your meals is subject to the 50% limit on meals discussed 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 lec- tures dealing with general subjects, will not . Page 10 ~wr1 TAAVELEXPENSES , I 1 change what is really a vacation into a busi- ness trip. Part of Trip Outside the United States If part of your trip is outside the United States, use the rules described later in this chapter 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 in this section. 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 deter- mine 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 1. You fly from New York to Pu- erto 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. All of the return trip is outside the United States, as there are no scheduled stops between Puerto Rico and New York. Example 2. You travel by train from New York to Montreal. The travel from New York to the last scheduled stop in the United States is travel in the United States, Private car. Travel by private car in the United States is travel between points in the United States, even though 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. Private plane. If you travel by private plane, any trip, or part of a trip, for which both your takeoff and landing are in the United States is travel in the United States. This is true even if part of your flight is over a foreign country, Example. You fly nonstop from Seattle to Juneau. Although the flight passes over Ca- nada, the trip is considered to be travel in the United States, 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 busi- ness related, Travel Entirely for Business If you travel outside the United States and you spend the entire time on business activities, all your travel expenses of getting to and from your business destination are deductible. In addition, even if you did not spend your entire time on business activities, your trip is considered entirely for business, and you can deduct all of your business-related travel ex- penses if you meet at least one of the follow- ing four conditions: 1) You did not have substantial control over arranging the trip. You are not considered to have substantial control merely be- cause you have control over the timing of your trip, You are considered not to have sub- stantial control over your trip if you: a) Are an employee who was reimbursed or paid a travel expense allowance, and b) Are not related to your employer, and c) Are not a managing executive. "Related to your employer" was defined earlier in this chapter under Standard Meal Al- lowance. A "managing executive" is an em- ployee who has the authority and responsibil- ity, without being subject to the veto of another, to decide on the need for the busi- ness travel. A self-employed person Is generally re- garded as having substantial control over ar- ranging business trips,