07/14/2026
☀️ Mixing business with pleasure on upcoming summer trips? Here's what you need to know about deducting travel expenses for your business!
✈️ Getting there: Travel costs within the country follow an "all or nothing" rule: if the trip is primarily for business purposes, the entire cost of travel can be deducted. If the trip is primarily personal, none of the travel costs are deductible.
🤓 How do you know if the trip is "primarily" for business? You can typically decide this based on number of days on business versus personal.
🏨 Staying there: Hotel costs associated with a trip primarily for business would be fully deductible. However, if you extend the stay for a vacation, those additional nights would not be deductible.
🍴What about meals? For days away from home on business, you are allowed to deduct half the costs of your actual meal costs, OR you can take advantage of the IRS "per diem" method. Under this method, you can deduct half of $68 per day for meals, no matter how much you actually paid for meals that day. In some higher-cost locations, this number could be as high as $92! Here again, if you extend your stay for vacation, meals on those additional days are not deductible.