How to Write Off Your Vacation

Want to turn your personal trip into a business expense? 🏝️✈️ The IRS says the trip’s primary purpose must be business—before you book it! Watch for tips on what you can (and can’t) write off.

And remember...the #IRSSUCKS 

John Briggs | Tax Genius
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Transcript

00:00:00 [Music] I have a personal trip coming up how do I make my personal trip business if you're audited and you have all this personal trip stuff already scheduled and planned out before you decide it to be business the IRS is going to say that is not a business trip so the predetermined purpose of the trip must be business and you need to be able to prove that if you're audited let's say you know I live in Utah and let's say I would like to go to Southern California for business that could be a variety of

00:00:36 reasons you just have to have business purpose for my case I could be expanding Insight tax I could be going to a gym location to become more of an expert and provide some content to our gym clients I could be going to any business down there and do the same thing we have clients in Southern California I could be visiting them all of those those are just a few examples of why that could be a business trip so let's say that's the reason and that's why I'm going to go maybe then to prove it I would want to

00:01:03 have an email that I sent to someone who's maybe selling commercial space or another accountant that lives down there where I'm emailing and saying hey I'd love to come visit you and learn more about your operations in Southern California that would be proof If IRS asked that I did that now that I have that I can go I can book it could be airfare it could be a hotel stay but let's say I decide to take my kids with me my whole family and while I'm down there maybe we go to Disneyland now entertainment as as an expense is not a

00:01:32 business tax deduction anymore as of 2018 but it doesn't mean that the days I'm down there aren't considered business and I can't write off the stay of my hotel if I drive with my family the gas because I would have spent that gas if I had driven down from a airfare standpoint if I buy tickets for my kids I cannot write those off unless they're paid as an employee for my business same with my spouse if she's an employee of the business I can write that off if they're not employees then I can't write

00:02:03 off their airfare the hotel room if they're not part of the business and employees I can write off the single occupancy rate of the hotel stay the hotels have that you just have to ask the front desk for it but if the family is part of the company and their W2 and getting a payroll then I could write off the whole thing while I'm down there on my business trip any food I consume is automatically considered business purpose and so I could write that off under business meals it's important to note that more than 50% of your days on

00:02:33 the trip need to be business in order for it to be considered a business trip and if Friday has business purpose and Monday has business purpose and the weekend automatically gets credited as business purpose the days you're actually traveling are considered business purpose so that's how you write off a trip to make a business I just want to reiterate if you're audited you have to be able to prove you had business purpose to the trip before you took the trip if I book booked everything as a family a whole

00:03:01 Disneyland vacation trip and I'm like oh in h and sight how do I make this business and I I can't prove that then I'm I'm going to miss out on those deductions I'm not going to be able to take them that was a quick tax tip remember profitability is a choice have the courage and wisdom to choose it [Music]