business travel expenses 2023

Everything You Need to Know About the Business Travel Tax Deduction

Justin is an IRS Enrolled Agent, allowing him to represent taxpayers before the IRS. He loves helping freelancers and small business owners save on taxes. He is also an attorney and works part-time with the Keeper Tax team.

You don’t have to fly first class and stay at a fancy hotel to claim travel expense tax deductions. Conferences, worksite visits, and even a change of scenery can (sometimes) qualify as business travel.

What counts as business travel?

The IRS does have a few simple guidelines for determining what counts as business travel. Your trip has to be:

Mostly business
An “ordinary and necessary” expense
Someplace far away from your “tax home”

What counts as "mostly business"?

The IRS will measure your time away in days. If you spend more days doing business activities than not, your trip is considered "mostly business". Your travel days are counted as work days.

Special rules for traveling abroad

If you are traveling abroad for business purposes, you trip counts as " entirely for business " as long as you spend less than 25% of your time on personal activities (like vacationing). Your travel days count as work days.

So say you you head off to Zurich for nine days. You've got a seven-day run of conference talks, client meetings, and the travel it takes to get you there. You then tack on two days skiing on the nearby slopes.

Good news: Your trip still counts as "entirely for business." That's because two out of nine days is less than 25%.

What is an “ordinary and necessary” expense?

“Ordinary and necessary” means that the trip:

Makes sense given your industry, and
Was taken for the purpose of carrying out business activities

If you have a choice between two conferences — one in your hometown, and one in London — the British one wouldn’t be an ordinary and necessary expense.

What is your tax home?

A taxpayer can deduct travel expenses anytime you are traveling away from home but depending on where you work the IRS definition of “home” can get complicated.

Your tax home is often — but not always — where you live with your family (what the IRS calls your "family home"). When it comes to defining it, there are two factors to consider:

What's your main place of business, and
How large is your tax home

What's your main place of business?

If your main place of business is somewhere other than your family home, your tax home will be the former — where you work, not where your family lives.

For example, say you:

Live with your family in Chicago, but
Work in Milwaukee during the week (where you stay in hotels and eat in restaurants)

Then your tax home is Milwaukee. That's your main place of business, even if you travel back to your family home every weekend.

How large is your tax home?

In most cases, your tax home is the entire city or general area where your main place of business is located.

The “entire city” is easy to define but “general area” gets a bit tricker. For example, if you live in a rural area, then your general area may span several counties during a regular work week.

Rules for business travel

Want to check if your trip is tax-deductible? Make sure it follows these rules set by the IRS.

1. Your trip should take you away from your home base

A good rule of thumb is 100 miles. That’s about a two hour drive, or any kind of plane ride. To be able to claim all the possible travel deductions, your trip should require you to sleep somewhere that isn’t your home.

2. You should be working regular hours

In general, that means eight hours a day of work-related activity.

It’s fine to take personal time in the evenings, and you can still take weekends off. But you can’t take a half-hour call from Disneyland and call it a business trip.

Here's an example. Let’s say you’re a real estate agent living in Chicago. You travel to an industry conference in Las Vegas. You go to the conference during the day, go out in the evenings, and then stay the weekend. That’s a business trip!

3. The trip should last less than a year

Once you’ve been somewhere for over a year, you’re essentially living there. However, traveling for six months at a time is fine!

For example, say you’re a freelancer on Upwork, living in Seattle. You go down to stay with your sister in San Diego for the winter to expand your client network, and you work regular hours while you’re there. That counts as business travel.

What about digital nomads?

With the rise of remote-first workplaces, many freelancers choose to take their work with them as they travel the globe. There are a couple of requirements these expats have to meet if they want to write off travel costs.

Requirement #1: A tax home

Digital nomads have to be able to claim a particular foreign city as a tax home if they want to write off any travel expenses. You don't have to be there all the time — but it should be your professional home base when you're abroad.

For example, say you've rent a room or a studio apartment in Prague for the year. You regularly call clients and finish projects from there. You still travel a lot, for both work and play. But Prague is your tax home, so you can write off travel expenses.

Requirement #2: Some work-related reason for traveling

As long as you've got a tax home and some work-related reason for traveling, these excursion count as business trips. Plausible reasons include meeting with local clients, or attending a local conference and then extending your stay.

However, if you’re a freelance software developer working from Thailand because you like the weather, that unfortunately doesn't count as business travel.

The travel expenses you can write off

As a rule of thumb, all travel-related expenses on a business trip are tax-deductible. You can also claim meals while traveling, but be careful with entertainment expenses (like going out for drinks!).

Here are some common travel-related write-offs you can take.

🛫 All transportation

Any transportation costs are a travel tax deduction. This includes traveling by airplane, train, bus, or car. Baggage fees are deductible, and so are Uber rides to and from the airport.

Just remember: if a client is comping your airfare, or if you booked your ticket with frequent flier miles, then it isn't deductible since your cost was $0.

If you rent a car to go on a business trip, that rental is tax-deductible. If you drive your own vehicle, you can either take actual costs or use the standard mileage deduction. There's more info on that in our guide to deducting car expenses .

Hotels, motels, Airbnb stays, sublets on Craigslist, even reimbursing a friend for crashing on their couch: all of these are tax-deductible lodging expenses.

🥡 Meals while traveling

If your trip has you staying overnight — or even crashing somewhere for a few hours before you can head back — you can write off food expenses. Grabbing a burger alone or a coffee at your airport terminal counts! Even groceries and takeout are tax-deductible.

One important thing to keep in mind: You can usually deduct 50% of your meal costs. For 2021 and 2022, meals you get at restaurants are 100% tax-deductible. Go to the grocery store, though, and you’re limited to the usual 50%.

{upsell_block}

🌐 Wi-Fi and communications

Wi-Fi — on a plane or at your hotel — is completely deductible when you’re traveling for work. This also goes for other communication expenses, like hotspots and international calls.

If you need to ship things as part of your trip — think conference booth materials or extra clothes — those expenses are also tax-deductible.

👔 Dry cleaning

Need to look your best on the trip? You can write off related expenses, like laundry charges.

{write_off_block}

Travel expenses you can't deduct

Some travel costs may seem like no-brainers, but they're not actually tax-deductible. Here are a couple of common ones to watch our for.

The cost of bringing your child or spouse

If you bring your child or spouse on a business trip, your travel expense deductions get a little trickier. In general, the cost of bring other people on a business trip is considered personal expense — which means it's not deductible.

You can only deduct travel expenses if your child or spouse:

Is an employee,
Has a bona fide business purpose for traveling with you, and
Would otherwise be allowed to deduct the travel expense on their own

Some hotel bill charges

Staying in a hotel may be required for travel purposes. That's why the room charge and taxes are deductible.

Some additional charges, though, won't qualify. Here are some examples of fees that aren't tax-deductible:

Gym or fitness center fees
Movie rental fees
Game rental fees

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Where to claim travel expenses when filing your taxes

If you are self-employed, you will claim all your income tax deduction on the Schedule C. This is part of the Form 1040 that self-employed people complete ever year.

What happens if your business deductions are disallowed?

If the IRS challenges your business deduction and they are disallowed, there are potential penalties. This can happen if:

The deduction was not legitimate and shouldn't have been claimed in the first place, or
The deduction was legitimate, but you don't have the documentation to support it

When does the penalty come into play?

The 20% penalty is not automatic. It only applies if it allowed you to pay substantially less taxes than you normally would. In most cases, the IRS considers “substantially less” to mean you paid at least 10% less.

In practice, you would only reach this 10% threshold if the IRS disqualified a significant number of your travel deductions.

How much is the penalty?

The penalty is normally 20% of the difference between what you should have paid and what you actually paid. You also have to make up the original difference.

In total, this means you will be paying 120% of your original tax obligation: your original obligation, plus 20% penalty.

Justin W. Jones, EA, JD

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Special per diem rate for business travel rises

Individual Income Taxation
S Corporation Income Taxation
IRS Practice & Procedure

The special per diem rates by which taxpayers may substantiate ordinary and necessary business expenses of travel away from home will be higher starting Oct. 1, the IRS provided Monday in Notice 2023-68 .

Generally, in lieu of actual lodging, meal, and incidental expenses incurred, a payer may consider substantiated, for federal tax purposes, an employee's expenses incurred for employment-related travel in an amount up to or equaling the federal per diem rate for the locality of travel.

The high-low substantiation method applies a higher rate to designated high-cost localities and a lower rate to all other localities. The annual update includes the per diem rate under the high-low substantiation method for travel within the continental United States (CONUS).

The rate for travel to high-cost localities within CONUS is $309; the rate for non-high-cost localities will be $214. The current rates for the period Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023, are, respectively, $297 and $204. The portion of the rates treated as paid for meals for purposes of Sec. 274(n) is $74 for high-cost CONUS localities and $64 for all other CONUS localities, both the same as this year and the previous year.

The notice revised the list of high-cost localities for the upcoming new annual period (Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024) for which the new rates are in effect. High-cost localities have a federal per-diem rate of $261 or more. Notably, Los Angeles, Calif., and Portland, Ore., have been removed from the list of high-cost localities for the new period.

The notice also provides the special rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry. The meals and incidental expenses rates are $69 for any locality of travel within CONUS and $74 for localities of travel outside CONUS, both the same as the current rates.

The rate for incidental expenses remains $5 per day, for travel in and outside CONUS.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Martha Waggoner at [email protected] .

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This article discusses the history of the deduction of business meal expenses and the new rules under the TCJA and the regulations and provides a framework for documenting and substantiating the deduction.

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Tax Deductions for Business Travelers

When you are self-employed, you generally can deduct the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for business from your income. But before you start listing travel deductions, make sure you understand what the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) means by "home," "business," and "ordinary and necessary expenses."

Ordinary vs. necessary expenses

Business home, not home sweet home, transportation expenses on a business trip are deductible, fees for getting around are deductible, lodging, meals and tips are deductible.

Key Takeaways

Typically, you can deduct travel expenses if they are ordinary (common and accepted in your industry) and necessary (helpful and appropriate for your business).
You can deduct business travel expenses when you are away from both your home and the location of your main place of business (tax home).
Deductible expenses include transportation, baggage fees, car rentals, taxis and shuttles, lodging, tips, and fees.
You can also deduct 50% of either the actual cost of meals or the standard meal allowance, which is based on the federal meals and incidental expense per diem rate.

The IRS defines expense ordinary and necessary expenses this way:

An expense is ordinary if it is common and accepted in your industry
An expense is necessary if it is helpful and appropriate for your business

You can claim business travel expenses when you're away from home but "home" doesn't always mean where your family lives. You also have a tax home—the city where your main place of business is located—which may not be the same as the location of your family home.

For example, if you live in Petaluma, California but your permanent work location is in San Jose where you stay in hotels and eat out during the work week, you typically can't deduct your expenses in San Jose or your transportation home on weekends.

In this situation San Jose is your tax home , so no deductions are permitted for ordinary and necessary expenses there.
Your trips to your home in Petaluma are not mandated by business.

Go by plane, train or bus—the actual cost of the ticket to ride is deductible, as well as any baggage fees. If you have to pay top dollar for a last-minute flight, the high-priced ticket is a business expense, but if you use frequent-flyer miles for a free ticket, the deduction is zero.

If you decide to rent a car to go on a business trip, the car rental is deductible. If you drive your own vehicle, you can usually take actual costs or the IRS standard mileage rate. For 2023 the rate is 65.5 cents per mile. You also can add tolls and parking costs onto your deduction. This amount increases to 67 cents per mile for 2024.

TurboTax Tip: Even if you use the federal meals and incidental expense per diem rates to calculate your deductions, be sure to keep receipts from all your meals and incidental expenses.

Fares for taxis or shuttles can be deducted as business travel expenses. For example, you can deduct the fare or other costs to go to:

Airport or train station
Hotel from the airport or train station
Between your hotel and the work location
Between clients in the area

If you rent a car when you arrive at your destination, the expense is deductible as long as the car is used exclusively for business. If you use it both for business and personal purposes, you can only deduct the portion of the rental used for business.

The IRS allows business travelers to deduct business-related meals and hotel costs, as long as they are reasonable considering the circumstances—not lavish or extravagant.

You would have to eat if you were home, so this might explain why the IRS limits meal deductions to 50% of either the:

Actual cost of the meal
Standard meal allowance

This allowance is based on the federal meals and incidental expense per diem rate that depends on where and when you travel.

Generally, you can deduct 50% of the cost of meals. Alternatively, if you do not incur any meal expenses nor claim the standard meal allowance, you can deduct the amount of $5 per day for incidental expenses. You can also deduct incidental expenses, such as:

Fees and tips given to hotel staff
Fees for porters and baggage carriers

But don't forget to keep track of the actual costs.

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The above article is intended to provide generalized financial information designed to educate a broad segment of the public; it does not give personalized tax, investment, legal, or other business and professional advice. Before taking any action, you should always seek the assistance of a professional who knows your particular situation for advice on taxes, your investments, the law, or any other business and professional matters that affect you and/or your business.

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Irs updates 2023-2024 per diem rates for business travel.

Keeping up with receipts can be a daunting task, especially when traveling on business. Per diem rates, or fixed allowances for lodging and meals, could be the solution—read up on the 2023-2024 rates.

Business travelers have a lot of expenses to keep track of- hotels, restaurants, taxis, etc. The IRS makes it easy for business travelers by allowing the use of “per diem” rates, which are daily allowances to compensate for lodging, meals and incidental expenses incurred on business trips. The rates are updated every year. The 2023-2024 rates take effect October 1st 2023.

Per diem explained

Since business travelers have a lot of expenses to log (hotels, meals, etc.) the IRS allows employers to pay employees per diem rates, or daily allowances to compensate for meals, lodging, and incidental expenses (includes fees and tips paid to porters, baggage carriers, hotel staff, and ship staff).

Some important details:

Taking advantage of these per diem rates gives travelers a guideline for expenses and simplifies policy making for employers.
The rates vary depending on where your employees travel.
Per diem rates are not considered part of the employee’s taxable wages, as long as the employee provides an expense report and the payments do not exceed the federal per diem rate.

The new rates The IRS establishes a yearly flat rate for certain areas with higher costs of living—known as the high-low substantiation method . Areas are considered “low cost” if they are not listed as “high cost”. So, starting October 1st, 2023....

The per diem rate for travel to any high-cost location is $309, up from $ 297 last year.
Travel to any other locality is now $214 , up from $ 204 last year.
Incidental expense allowances remains unchanged at $5 per day for any location.
The special meals and incidental expenses for taxpayers in the transportation industry are $69 for any locality of travel within the CONUS (Continental U.S.) and $74 for any locality of travel outside CONUS.

*The amount of the $309 high rate and $214 low rate that is treated as paid for meals is $74 for travel to any high-cost locale and $64 for travel to any other location within the CONUS, unchanged from 2022.

What areas are considered “high cost”?

Notice 2023-68 lists all high-cost localities.

It’s easy for an employee to take unfair advantage of business travel expenses, which is why the IRS is extremely critical. While per diem rates can help cut down recordkeeping requirements and other complications associated with logging receipts and all expenses... you have to be mindful of IRS scrutiny.

Employees must beware: under current tax law employee business expenses are no longer allowed as itemized deductions so the expense report provision is more important than ever. It’s best to consult your tax advisor to make sure your business and employees are complying with all the regulations listed above.

Stay informed. Get all the latest news delivered straight to your inbox.

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IRS Updates 2023-2024 Per Diem Rates for Business Travelers

Taxpayers can use the special per diem rates to substantiate the amount of expenses for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses.

Jason Bramwell

Sep. 26, 2023

The IRS has released the special per diem rates for 2023-24 that take effect on Oct. 1, which taxpayers can use to substantiate the amount of expenses for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses when traveling away from home.

Notice 2023-68 , which the IRS published on Monday, provides the special transportation industry rate, the rate for the incidental expenses-only deduction, and the rates and list of high-cost localities for purposes of the high-low substantiation method for the period of Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024.

The use of a per diem substantiation method is not mandatory. Taxpayers can substantiate the actual allowable expenses if they maintain adequate records or other sufficient evidence for proper substantiation, according to the IRS.

The special meal and incidental expenses rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry are $69 for any location in the continental United States and $74 for any locality outside the continental U.S. The rate for any travel locale inside or outside the continental U.S. for the incidental expenses-only deduction is $5 per day.

For purposes of the high-low substantiation method, the per diem rates are $309 for travel to any high-cost locality and $214 for travel to any other locality within the continental U.S. The amount of the $309 high rate and $214 low rate that is treated as paid for meals is $74 for travel to any high-cost locale and $64 for travel to any other locality within the continental U.S.

Under the meal and incidental expenses-only substantiation method, per diem rates are $74 for travel to any high-cost locality and $64 for travel to any other locality within the continental U.S.

Notice 2023-68 also provides a list of high-cost localities that have a federal per diem rate of $261 or more.

Revenue Procedure 2019-48 provides the rules for using per diem rates, rather than actual expenses, to substantiate the amount of expenses for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses for travel away from home. Taxpayers who use per diem rates to substantiate the amount of travel expenses under Rev. Proc. 2019-48 may use the federal per diem rates published annually by the General Services Administration. Rev. Proc. 2019-48 allows certain taxpayers to use a special transportation industry rate or to use rates under a high-low substantiation method for certain high-cost localities. The IRS announces these rates and the rate for the incidental expenses-only deduction in an annual notice.

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New Business Travel Per Diem Rates Announced for 2023-2024

To Per Diem or Not to Per Diem

There are two basic ways that employees can be reimbursed for business travel expenses. The first is a direct reimbursement of the actual expenses. The second is the per diem method.

Direct actual expense reimbursement is exactly what it sounds like. For example, a sales employee pays for a plane ticket and meals during a customer visit and then submits an expense report with the receipts as back-up. Typically, a company will have a travel and expense policy that limits the expenses allowed – no Michelin star restaurants or first-class flights, for example. Other than this, direct expense reimbursement is simple and straight-forward.

The second expense reimbursement method is called the per diem method. The per diem method is basically a pre-package policy of controls for both spending and tax purposes.

Fundamentals of Per Diems

Per diem is Latin for the term for each day. In practice, it is a daily allowance granted to each employee. It covers travel and related business expenses, allowing a fixed amount to cover business travel expenses.

Per diem policies can cover only three types of expenses: lodging, meals, and incidentals (anything else must be directly reimbursed). A per diem policy does not need to cover all three, however. An employer can use the per diem only for meals, for example, and deal with lodging under the direct actual expense reimbursement method. Also, the per diem method cannot cover transportation expenses or mileage reimbursement.

Taxation of Per Diems

Per diems are generally not taxable and no withholding tax on the payments is necessary. The exception to this is if an employee does not provide or provides incomplete expense report information – or if you give the employee a flat amount that is in excess of the maximum allowance (with the excess being taxable).

Two Types of Per Diems

Per diem rates can be determined in one of two ways: either the standard rate or using the high-low method.

The standard rate is a fixed rate, whereas the high-low method is based on the cost of living being higher or lower in different locales. Under the high-low method, for example, Boston gets a higher reimbursement than Des Moines to account for this.

2023-2024 Rate Updates

The IRS updates the per diem rates every year. The 2023-2024 rates took effect Oct.1, 2023. They are as follows:*

Travel to high-cost location is $309 ($297 prior year)
Travel to other locations is $214 ($204 prior year)
Incidental expense stay is the same at $5 per day, regardless of location

*Taxpayers in the transportation industry are subject to special rates

These articles are intended to provide general resources for the tax and accounting needs of small businesses and individuals. Service2Client LLC is the author, but is not engaged in rendering specific legal, accounting, financial or professional advice. Service2Client LLC makes no representation that the recommendations of Service2Client LLC will achieve any result. The NSAD has not reviewed any of the Service2Client LLC content. Readers are encouraged to contact a professional regarding the topics in these articles. The images linked to these articles are protected by copyright and should not be copied for any reason.

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Small Business Trends

10 tax deductions for travel expenses (2023 tax year).

Tax season can be stressful, especially if you’re unaware of the tax deductions available to you. If you’ve traveled for work throughout the year, there are a number of deductions for travel expenses that can help reduce your taxable income in 2024 and save you money.

Read on for 10 tax deductions for travel expenses in the 2023 tax year.

Are business travel expenses tax deductible?

Business travel expenses incurred while away from your home and principal place of business are tax deductible. These expenses may include transportation costs, baggage fees, car rentals, taxis, shuttles, lodging, tips, and fees.

It is important to keep receipts and records of the actual expenses for tax purposes and deduct the actual cost.

What kinds of travel expenses are tax deductible?

To deduct business travel expenses, they must meet certain criteria set by the IRS.

The following are the primary requirements that a travel expense must meet in order to be eligible for a tax deduction:

Ordinary and necessary expenses: The expense must be common and accepted in the trade or business and be helpful and appropriate for the business.
Directly related to trade or business: The expense must be directly related to the trade or business and not of a personal nature.
Away from home overnight: The expense must have been incurred while away from both the taxpayer’s home and the location of their main place of business (tax home) overnight.
Proper documentation: The taxpayer must keep proper documentation, such as receipts and records, of the expenses incurred.

Eligible Business Travel Tax Deductions

Business travel expenses can quickly add up. Fortunately, many of these expenses are tax deductible for businesses and business owners.

Here is an overview of the types of business travel expenses that are eligible for tax deductions in the United States:

Accommodation Expenses

Accommodation expenses can be claimed as tax deductions on business trips. This includes lodging at hotels, rental costs of vacation homes, and other lodgings while traveling.

Meal Expenses

Food and beverage expenses incurred on a business trip may be deducted from taxes. This includes meals while traveling and meals during meetings with clients or contractors.

Transportation Expenses

Deducting business travel expenses incurred while on a business trip may also be claimed.

This includes flights, train tickets, car rentals, gas for personal vehicles used for the business trip, toll fees, parking fees, taxi rides to and from the airport or train station, and more.

Expenses of operating and maintaining a car

Expenses of operating and maintaining a car used for business travel may also be claimed as tax deductions.

This includes fuel, insurance, registration costs, actual costs of repairs, and maintenance fees. Fees paid to hire a chauffeur or driver may also be deducted.

Operating and maintaining house-trailers

Operating and maintaining house trailers for business travel may be eligible for tax deductions, provided that the use of such trailers is considered “ordinary” and “necessary” for your business.

This includes any costs associated with renting or owning a trailer, such as fuel costs, repair and maintenance fees, insurance, and registration charges.

Internet and phone expenses

Internet and phone expenses associated with business travel can also be claimed as tax deductions. This includes the cost of any internet service, such as Wi-Fi or data plans, and phone services, such as roaming charges or international calls.

Any communication devices purchased for business use, such as smartphones and laptops, may also be eligible for tax deductions.

Computer rental fees

Rental fees for computers and other computing devices used during business travel may also be deducted from taxes. This includes any applicable charges for purchasing, leasing, or renting a computer, as well as the related costs of connecting to the Internet and other digital services.

All such expenses must be necessary for the success of the business trip in order to qualify for a tax deduction.

Travel supplies

Travel supplies, such as suitcases and other bags, are also eligible for tax deductions when used for business travel. Any costs associated with keeping the items protected, such as locks and tracking devices, can also be claimed as tax deductions.

Other necessary supplies, such as office equipment or reference materials, may also be eligible for deductions.

Conference fees and events

Conference fees and events related to business travel may also be eligible for tax deductions. This includes fees associated with attending a conference, such as registration, accommodation, and meals.

Any costs related to the organization of business events, such as venue hire and catering, may also be claimed as tax deductions.

Cleaning and laundry expenses

Business travel expenses associated with cleaning and laundry may also be claimed as tax deductions. This includes a portion of the cost of hotel and motel services, such as cleaning fees charged for laundering clothing, as well as any other reasonable expenses related to keeping clean clothes while traveling away from home.

Ineligible Travel Expenses Deductions

When it comes to business expenses and taxes, not all travel expenses are created equal. Some expenses are considered “Ineligible Travel Expenses Deductions” and cannot be claimed as deductions on your income taxes.

Here is a list of common travel expenses that cannot be deducted, with a brief explanation of each:

Personal Vacations: Expenses incurred during a personal vacation are not deductible, even if you conduct some business while on the trip. In addition, expenses related to personal pleasure or recreation activities are also not eligible for deductions.
Gifts: Gifts purchased for business reasons during travel are not deductible, even if the gifts are intended to benefit the business in some way.
Commuting: The cost of commuting between your home and regular place of business is not considered a deductible expense.
Meals: Meals consumed while traveling on business can only be partially deducted, with certain limits on the amount.
Lodging: The cost of lodging is a deductible expense, but only if it is deemed reasonable and necessary for the business trip.
Entertainment: Entertainment expenses, such as tickets to a show or sporting event, are not deductible, even if they are associated with a business trip.

How to Deduct Travel Expenses

To deduct travel expenses from income taxes, the expenses must be considered ordinary and necessary for the operation of the business. This means the expenses must be common and accepted business activities in your industry, and they must be helpful, appropriate, and for business purposes.

In order to claim travel expenses as a deduction, they must be itemized on Form 2106 for employees or Schedule C for self-employed individuals.

How much can you deduct for travel expenses?

While on a business trip, the full cost of transportation to your destination, whether it’s by plane, train, or bus, is eligible for deduction.

Similarly, if you rent a car for transportation to and around your destination, the cost of the rental is also deductible. For food expenses incurred during a business trip, only 50% of the cost is eligible for a write-off.

How do you prove your tax deductions for travel expenses?

To prove your tax deductions for travel expenses, you should maintain accurate records such as receipts, invoices, and any other supporting documentation that shows the amount and purpose of the expenses.

Some of the documentation you may need to provide include receipts for transportation, lodging, and meals, a detailed itinerary or schedule of the trip, an explanation of the bona fide business purpose of the trip, or proof of payment for all expenses.

What are the penalties for deducting a disallowed business expense?

Deducting a disallowed business expense can result in accuracy-related penalties of 20% of the underpayment, interest charges, re-assessment of the tax return, and in severe cases, fines and imprisonment for tax fraud. To avoid these penalties, it’s important to understand expense deduction rules and keep accurate records.

Can you deduct travel expenses when you bring family or friends on a business trip?

It is not usually possible to deduct the expenses of taking family or friends on a business trip. However, if these individuals provided value to the company, it may be possible. It’s advisable to speak with an accountant or financial expert before claiming any deductions related to bringing family and friends on a business trip.

Can you deduct business-related expenses incurred while on vacation?

Expenses incurred while on a personal vacation are not deductible, even if some business is conducted during the trip. To be eligible for a deduction, the primary purpose of the trip must be for business and the expenses must be directly related to conducting that business.

Can you claim a travel expenses tax deduction for employees?

Employers can deduct employee travel expenses if they are ordinary, necessary, and adequately documented. The expenses must also be reported as taxable income on the employee’s W-2.

What are the limits on deducting the cost of meals during business travel?

The IRS permits a 50% deduction of meal and hotel expenses for business travelers that are reasonable and not lavish. If no meal expenses are incurred, $5.00 daily can be deducted for incidental expenses. The federal meals and incidental expense per diem rate is what determines the standard meal allowance.

How to Deduct Travel Expenses (with Examples)

Reviewed by

November 3, 2022

This article is Tax Professional approved

Good news: most of the regular costs of business travel are tax deductible.

Even better news: as long as the trip is primarily for business, you can tack on a few vacation days and still deduct the trip from your taxes (in good conscience).

I am the text that will be copied.

Even though we advise against exploiting this deduction, we do want you to understand how to leverage the process to save on your taxes, and get some R&R while you’re at it.

Follow the steps in this guide to exactly what qualifies as a travel expense, and how to not cross the line.

The travel needs to qualify as a “business trip”

Unfortunately, you can’t just jump on the next plane to the Bahamas and write the trip off as one giant business expense. To write off travel expenses, the IRS requires that the primary purpose of the trip needs to be for business purposes.

Here’s how to make sure your travel qualifies as a business trip.

1. You need to leave your tax home

Your tax home is the locale where your business is based. Traveling for work isn’t technically a “business trip” until you leave your tax home for longer than a normal work day, with the intention of doing business in another location.

2. Your trip must consist “mostly” of business

The IRS measures your time away in days. For a getaway to qualify as a business trip, you need to spend the majority of your trip doing business.

For example, say you go away for a week (seven days). You spend five days meeting with clients, and a couple of days lounging on the beach. That qualifies as business trip.

But if you spend three days meeting with clients, and four days on the beach? That’s a vacation. Luckily, the days that you travel to and from your location are counted as work days.

3. The trip needs to be an “ordinary and necessary” expense

“Ordinary and necessary ” is a term used by the IRS to designate expenses that are “ordinary” for a business, given the industry it’s in, and “necessary” for the sake of carrying out business activities.

If there are two virtually identical conferences taking place—one in Honolulu, the other in your hometown—you can’t write off an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii.

Likewise, if you need to rent a car to get around, you’ll have trouble writing off the cost of a Range Rover if a Toyota Camry will get you there just as fast.

What qualifies as “ordinary and necessary” can seem like a gray area at times, and you may be tempted to fudge it. Our advice: err on the side of caution. if the IRS chooses to investigate and discovers you’ve claimed an expense that wasn’t necessary for conducting business, you could face serious penalties .

4. You need to plan the trip in advance

You can’t show up at Universal Studios , hand out business cards to everyone you meet in line for the roller coaster, call it “networking,” and deduct the cost of the trip from your taxes. A business trip needs to be planned in advance.

Before your trip, plan where you’ll be each day, when, and outline who you’ll spend it with. Document your plans in writing before you leave. If possible, email a copy to someone so it gets a timestamp. This helps prove that there was professional intent behind your trip.

The rules are different when you travel outside the United States

Business travel rules are slightly relaxed when you travel abroad.

If you travel outside the USA for more than a week (seven consecutive days, not counting the day you depart the United States):

You must spend at least 75% of your time outside of the country conducting business for the entire getaway to qualify as a business trip.

If you travel outside the USA for more than a week, but spend less than 75% of your time doing business, you can still deduct travel costs proportional to how much time you do spend working during the trip.

For example, say you go on an eight-day international trip. If you spend at least six days conducting business, you can deduct the entire cost of the trip as a business expense—because 6 is equivalent to 75% of your time away, which, remember, is the minimum you must spend on business in order for the entire trip to qualify as a deductible business expense.

But if you only spend four days out of the eight-day trip conducting business—or just 50% of your time away—you would only be able to deduct 50% of the cost of your travel expenses, because the trip no longer qualifies as entirely for business.

List of travel expenses

Here are some examples of business travel deductions you can claim:

Plane, train, and bus tickets between your home and your business destination
Baggage fees
Laundry and dry cleaning during your trip
Rental car costs
Hotel and Airbnb costs
50% of eligible business meals
50% of meals while traveling to and from your destination

On a business trip, you can deduct 100% of the cost of travel to your destination, whether that’s a plane, train, or bus ticket. If you rent a car to get there, and to get around, that cost is deductible, too.

The cost of your lodging is tax deductible. You can also potentially deduct the cost of lodging on the days when you’re not conducting business, but it depends on how you schedule your trip. The trick is to wedge “vacation days” in between work days.

Here’s a sample itinerary to explain how this works:

Thursday: Fly to Durham, NC. Friday: Meet with clients. Saturday: Intermediate line dancing lessons. Sunday: Advanced line dancing lessons. Monday: Meet with clients. Tuesday: Fly home.

Thursday and Tuesday are travel days (remember: travel days on business trips count as work days). And Friday and Monday, you’ll be conducting business.

It wouldn’t make sense to fly home for the weekend (your non-work days), only to fly back into Durham for your business meetings on Monday morning.

So, since you’re technically staying in Durham on Saturday and Sunday, between the days when you’ll be conducting business, the total cost of your lodging on the trip is tax deductible, even if you aren’t actually doing any work on the weekend.

It’s not your fault that your client meetings are happening in Durham—the unofficial line dancing capital of America .

Meals and entertainment during your stay

Even on a business trip, you can only deduct a portion of the meal and entertainment expenses that specifically facilitate business. So, if you’re in Louisiana closing a deal over some alligator nuggets, you can write off 50% of the bill.

Just make sure you make a note on the receipt, or in your expense-tracking app , about the nature of the meeting you conducted—who you met with, when, and what you discussed.

On the other hand, if you’re sampling the local cuisine and there’s no clear business justification for doing so, you’ll have to pay for the meal out of your own pocket.

Meals and entertainment while you travel

While you are traveling to the destination where you’re doing business, the meals you eat along the way can be deducted by 50% as business expenses.

This could be your chance to sample local delicacies and write them off on your tax return. Just make sure your tastes aren’t too extravagant. Just like any deductible business expense, the meals must remain “ordinary and necessary” for conducting business.

How Bench can help

Surprised at the kinds of expenses that are tax-deductible? Travel expenses are just one of many unexpected deductible costs that can reduce your tax bill. But with messy or incomplete financials, you can miss these tax saving expenses and end up with a bigger bill than necessary.

Enter Bench, America’s largest bookkeeping service. With a Bench subscription, your team of bookkeepers imports every transaction from your bank, credit cards, and merchant processors, accurately categorizing each and reviewing for hidden tax deductions. We provide you with complete and up-to-date bookkeeping, guaranteeing that you won’t miss a single opportunity to save.

Want to talk taxes with a professional? With a premium subscription, you get access to unlimited, on-demand consultations with our tax professionals. They can help you identify deductions, find unexpected opportunities for savings, and ensure you’re paying the smallest possible tax bill. Learn more .

Bringing friends & family on a business trip

Don’t feel like spending the vacation portion of your business trip all alone? While you can’t directly deduct the expense of bringing friends and family on business trips, some costs can be offset indirectly.

Driving to your destination

Have three or four empty seats in your car? Feel free to fill them. As long as you’re traveling for business, and renting a vehicle is a “necessary and ordinary” expense, you can still deduct your business mileage or car rental costs even when others join you for the ride.

One exception: If you incur extra mileage or “unnecessary” rental costs because you bring your family along for the ride, the expense is no longer deductible because it isn’t “necessary or ordinary.”

For example, let’s say you had to rent an extra large van to bring your children on a business trip. If you wouldn’t have needed to rent the same vehicle to travel alone, the expense of the extra large van no longer qualifies as a business deduction.

Renting a place to stay

Similar to the driving expense, you can only deduct lodging equivalent to what you would use if you were travelling alone.

However, there is some flexibility. If you pay for lodging to accommodate you and your family, you can deduct the portion of lodging costs that is equivalent to what you would pay only for yourself .

For example, let’s say a hotel room for one person costs $100, but a hotel room that can accommodate your family costs $150. You can rent the $150 option and deduct $100 of the cost as a business expense—because $100 is how much you’d be paying if you were staying there alone.

This deduction has the potential to save you a lot of money on accommodation for your family. Just make sure you hold on to receipts and records that state the prices of different rooms, in case you need to justify the expense to the IRS

Heads up. When it comes to AirBnB, the lines get blurry. It’s easy to compare the cost of a hotel room with one bed to a hotel room with two beds. But when you’re comparing significantly different lodgings, with different owners—a pool house versus a condo, for example—it becomes hard to justify deductions. Sticking to “traditional” lodging like hotels and motels may help you avoid scrutiny during an audit. And when in doubt: ask your tax advisor.

So your trip is technically a vacation? You can still claim any business-related expenses

The moment your getaway crosses the line from “business trip” to “vacation” (e.g. you spend more days toasting your buns than closing deals) you can no longer deduct business travel expenses.

Generally, a “vacation” is:

A trip where you don’t spend the majority of your days doing business
A business trip you can’t back up with correct documentation

However, you can still deduct regular business-related expenses if you happen to conduct business while you’re on vacay.

For example, say you visit Portland for fun, and one of your clients also lives in that city. You have a lunch meeting with your client while you’re in town. Because the lunch is business related, you can write off 50% of the cost of the meal, the same way you would any other business meal and entertainment expense . Just make sure you keep the receipt.

Meanwhile, the other “vacation” related expenses that made it possible to meet with this client in person—plane tickets to Portland, vehicle rental so you could drive around the city—cannot be deducted; the trip is still a vacation.

If your business travel is with your own vehicle

There are two ways to deduct business travel expenses when you’re using your own vehicle.

Actual expenses method
Standard mileage rate method

Actual expenses is where you total up the actual cost associated with using your vehicle (gas, insurance, new tires, parking fees, parking tickets while visiting a client etc.) and multiply it by the percentage of time you used it for business. If it was 50% for business during the tax year, you’d multiply your total car costs by 50%, and that’d be the amount you deduct.

Standard mileage is where you keep track of the business miles you drove during the tax year, and then you claim the standard mileage rate .

The cost of breaking the rules

Don’t bother trying to claim a business trip unless you have the paperwork to back it up. Use an app like Expensify to track business expenditure (especially when you travel for work) and master the art of small business recordkeeping .

If you claim eligible write offs and maintain proper documentation, you should have all of the records you need to justify your deductions during a tax audit.

Speaking of which, if your business is flagged to be audited, the IRS will make it a goal to notify you by mail as soon as possible after your filing. Usually, this is within two years of the date for which you’ve filed. However, the IRS reserves the right to go as far back as six years.

Tax penalties for disallowed business expense deductions

If you’re caught claiming a deduction you don’t qualify for, which helped you pay substantially less income tax than you should have, you’ll be penalized. In this case, “substantially less” means the equivalent of a difference of 10% of what you should have paid, or $5,000—whichever amount is higher.

The penalty is typically 20% of the difference between what you should have paid and what you actually paid in income tax. This is on top of making up the difference.

Ultimately, you’re paying back 120% of what you cheated off the IRS.

If you’re slightly confused at this point, don’t stress. Here’s an example to show you how this works:

Suppose you would normally pay $30,000 income tax. But because of a deduction you claimed, you only pay $29,000 income tax.

If the IRS determines that the deduction you claimed is illegitimate, you’ll have to pay the IRS $1200. That’s $1000 to make up the difference, and $200 for the penalty.

Form 8275 can help you avoid tax penalties

If you think a tax deduction may be challenged by the IRS, there’s a way you can file it while avoiding any chance of being penalized.

File Form 8275 along with your tax return. This form gives you the chance to highlight and explain the deduction in detail.

In the event you’re audited and the deduction you’ve listed on Form 8275 turns out to be illegitimate, you’ll still have to pay the difference to make up for what you should have paid in income tax—but you’ll be saved the 20% penalty.

Unfortunately, filing Form 8275 doesn’t reduce your chances of being audited.

Where to claim travel expenses

If you’re self-employed, you’ll claim travel expenses on Schedule C , which is part of Form 1040.

When it comes to taking advantage of the tax write-offs we’ve discussed in this article—or any tax write-offs, for that matter—the support of a professional bookkeeping team and a trusted CPA is essential.

Accurate financial statements will help you understand cash flow and track deductible expenses. And beyond filing your taxes, a CPA can spot deductions you may have overlooked, and represent you during a tax audit.

Learn more about how to find, hire, and work with an accountant . And when you’re ready to outsource your bookkeeping, try Bench .

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New Research: The State of Corporate Travel and Expense 2023

New report: post-pandemic priorities shift the landscape for corporate travel and expense.

Corporate travel and expense (T&E) has started to look much different as companies renegotiate their policies in a new, unfamiliar business climate on this side of the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the past several years, T&E stakeholders critically reexamined program priorities, identifying how to contain or reduce costs and where travel, corporate cards, and expense tools were misaligned with governing policy.

Given these considerations occurring at companies across the corporate landscape — and their profound impact on the future of T&E — a new report from Skift and TripActions explores the return of business travel and its implications on the new workforce.

Built upon the results of a survey of more than 700 corporate travel and finance managers as well as more than 1,100 business travelers, the report also dives deep into how companies can reimagine their policies and technologies to make corporate travel, corporate card, and expense management programs more agile and cost-effective as part of a 360-degree, holistic corporate spending strategy.

In this report:

The return of business travel does not equate to “business as usual”
Remote work setups require new strategies for expense management, sustainability, and duty of care
How companies can create and communicate dynamic travel policies that give them more flexibility and efficiency
How streamlined, seamless, all-in-one travel and expense platforms and solutions help companies maximize business travel opportunities

Want more? Check out these other reports that you might be interested in:

Send me the report.

Host Agencies
Accelerator Course
Travel Jobs
Travel Agent Chatter
Etiquette & Rules
Privacy Policy

A List of Business Travel Expenses You Can Write Off In 2023 [+Travel Expense Calculator & Tax Organizer]

Figuring out which business travel expenses you can write off probably registers on the fun-o-meter at the same level as root canals or bathing feral cats.

Travel agents are plagued with tricky questions when it comes to travel expense write-offs. If you have a few business meetings during a family vacation, how much of the trip can be a travel expense write-off? If you specialize in Europe does that mean any and all trips to Europe are tax write-offs?

Don’t worry. Stick with us and we’ll clear up what you can and can’t write off as a travel expense. I learned a thing or two when I chatted with Jay Elstad, a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) with Riley Martin Ltd , and Stephanie Cannon, a former accountant turned Founder of SC Travel Design . Our Friday 15 Episode with Stephanie Cannon in late 2022 is pretty much a movie trailer for this article!

It turns out that figuring out travel expenses is a lot less intimidating when you talk to professionals. So I’m here to share their wisdom with you. Starting with HAR's beauteous tax organizer! Download it now and keep it handy while you go through the article!

Here's how HAR's Tax Organizer looks in action:

To make it your very own, just click on the upper right-hand arrow on the document to download it for yourself! (If you have any issues or you don't have a Gmail account, we won't leave you out! Just drop us a line at [email protected] and we'll send it via email).

This article and the HAR tax organizer will ensure you’re tracking and logging expenses thoroughly and efficiently. Will it make tracking travel expenses fun? Um, no. Sorry. I’m not that good. But I will give you the tools to help you feel more confident when it comes to travel expenses.

⭐️ HAR ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS: ⭐️

PDF: A list of travel expenses you can (and can't) write off
Business Travel Expenses You Can Write Off
Business Travel Expenses You Can't Write Off
Hobbyists (or Travel Dabblers)
Cruises & Travel Expenses
The Elephant in the Room: Is a Vacation a Travel Expense?
Travel Expense Scenarios for Travel Professionals
Tips on Tracking & Documenting Your Business Travel Expenses
Travel Expense Tracking Tools

A PDF Summary of Business Travel Expenses You Can (and Can't) Write Off

Our infographic details which business travel expenses you can (and can't) write off at a glance. If you're looking for crib notes, this PDF is it. But I highly recommend reading the rest of the article because business travel expense write-offs are all about nuance and the nitty-gritty.

A List Travel Expenses You Can Write Off

You can write off any travel expenses that are necessary, reasonable, and ordinary to your business operations. Below are examples of travel expenses you can (and cannot write off). Let's start with which write-offs are a green light.

1: Transportation

By airplane, train, bus, or car between your home and your business destination.
Fares for taxis or other types of transportation between the airport or train station and your hotel, or the hotel and the work location of your customers or clients, your business meeting place, or your temporary work location.
Personal car usage or car rental: You can deduct actual expenses or the standard mileage rate (¢65.5 for 2023 travel), 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.

2. Baggage or Shipping

Checking in your luggage? You can deduct that. Shipping display materials for the trade show? Go ahead and write that off too (so long as it’s between your regular and temporary work location).

You can deduct any of your business-related lodgings as an expense so long as it’s reasonable and necessary to your business (e.g. hotel/resort stay during a travel conference).

If you bring your sweetie/friend/kid you can only deduct lodging expenses that are reasonable for one person, for the nights/days that you worked.

4. Dry cleaning and laundry

If you have laundry or dry cleaning bills during your business travel, keep those receipts for your travel expenses. (I'm told that traveling to your basement to do laundry does not fall under this category.)

5. Communication Expenses (Beyond your work cell phone)

(beyond your cell phone): Your cell phone will already be deducted in a different category. But if you have any peripheral communications like leasing a satellite phone in Antarctica (sweet!) for emergency business calls, you can deduct that.

Tips include any gratuity to pay for the services noted on this list (porter fees, room service/cleaning, cab rides, etc.).

Note on cash: If you take out cash for tips (or other incidentals) from an ATM, the ATM receipt is not enough documentation. You should write down on your ATM receipt the date, location/service, and amount, for which you tipped if you want to take it as a deduction.

This one is super vague, but here it is in IRS speak, "Other similar ordinary and necessary expenses related to your business travel." (e.g. use of a hotel business center, hiring an interpreter, transportation to and from hotel to business event, etc.)

I saved meals for last because it's a little complicated. But here's what you need to know about meals. The IRS recommends using a standard meal allowance rather than engaging in the administrative gymnastic of saving every receipt form every meal. Here's the lowdown.

You can (generally) deduct 50% of the unreimbursed meal cost. (Meals in 2022 can be deducted at 100% due to IRS' temporary rule, Notice 21-25 )
Meals must be non-entertainment-related. In 2018, the tax law changed, rendering entertainment expenses 100% nondeductible . So if you go to a dinner theater show with a client and the meal portion is not itemized on your theater ticket, you cannot deduct it.
There are two ways you can track/deduct meal expenses. You can either use a per diem or track your actual expenses. We’ll explore this soon , so stay tuned

A List of Travel Expenses You Can't Write Off

Now for the less fun part: Here are examples of travel expenses you CAN NOT deduct.

1. Entertainment

Entertainment is not an allowable expense. Going golfing at the resort with a potential client or a BDM (business development manager) while you’re at a business conference? Too bad . . . you’re going to have to do it on your own dime.

2. Family/friends/dependents traveling with you

If you’re traveling with a friend, family member, and/or dependent you cannot deduct any of their travel expenses.

If you feel like you fall under an exception to this rule—e.g. you compensate your family member/friend/dependent to fulfill necessary business activities during the trip and have the 1099 or W-2 to prove they work for you—talk to your CPA.

3. Lavish and extravagant

Lavish and extravagant expenses are not allowed by the IRS. However, they’re a little foggy on what defines lavish or extravagant saying only, “an expense isn’t considered lavish or extravagant if it’s reasonable based on facts or circumstances.”

If you think this may be a concern for you, talk to your CPA.

4. Travel that is compensated

This may seem obvious, but if your travel is comped, you cannot deduct it as an expense. For example, if you’re presenting at a conference and the event planner comps your entire hotel stay, you cannot deduct lodging.

The same also goes for using points on loyalty programs toward flight/lodging etc.

5. Personal vacations

You cannot deduct personal travel. When it comes to mixing business with leisure (I mean, do travel agents ever really stop working?), we get into a serious gray area. It’s such a doozie that it gets its own section. So read on.

Travel Expenses for Travel Advisor Hobbyists (or Travel Dabblers)

I’m not going to spend too much time talking about hobbyists. Just know that if you sell travel as a hobby, then none of your travel expenses are allowable in the eyes of the IRS.

How do you know if you’re a hobbyist? The IRS has a long list , including items like whether or not “you depend on the income for your livelihood” and other fun determining factors.

The IRS understands it can take a while to become profitable. Typically, you’re approaching hobbyist territory in the eyes of the IRS if you report a loss of three out of five years of business operations. (A loss means you’re claiming business expenses beyond your income.)

As with all things tax-related, there are exceptions as to what expenses are considered a loss, but that's above my pay grade. You’re a psychic now so you know what I’m about to say . . . talk to your accountant or CPA.

Cruises & Business Travel Expenses

You can only deduct up to $2,000 per year of expenses for things held on cruise ships

Cruises are special snowflakes and are subject to their own rules when it comes to travel expenses. According to the IRS , “You can deduct up to $2,000 per year of your expenses of attending conventions, seminars, or similar meetings held on cruise ships. All ships that sail are considered cruise ships.”

This may not be the happiest news to cruise buffs who spend thousands per year on Seminars at Seas. But remember, I’m just the messenger (not the IRS).

If you want to write off your 2k in cruises, there are all sorts of stringent requirements you need to meet. Below, I am copying and pasting what the IRS has to say on the matter, verbatim (why reinvent the wheel):

You can deduct these [cruise] expenses only if all of the following requirements are met.

The convention, seminar, or meeting is directly related to the active conduct of your trade or business.
The cruise ship is a vessel registered in the United States.
All of the cruise ship's ports of call are in the United States or in possession of the United States.
You attach to your return a written statement signed by you that includes information about:
The total days of the trip (not including the days of transportation to and from the cruise ship port),
The number of hours each day that you devoted to scheduled business activities, and
A program of the scheduled business activities of the meeting.
You attach to your return a written statement signed by an officer of the organization or group sponsoring the meeting that includes:
A schedule of the business activities of each day of the meeting, and
The number of hours you attended the scheduled business activities.

Again, if you think your cruise trip/business model is an exception, or you have a bone to pick with these rules, don’t call me. [Enter refrain] Talk to your CPA.

The Elephant in the Room: Is Your Vacation a Travel Expense?

I know that CPAs and accountants everywhere are probably going to duck and cover at the merest whisper of deducting trips that have even a whiff of personal travel.

But as a travel agent, it’s confusing since you need to travel to run a successful and profitable business.

Sure, it’s easy enough to justify travel expenses for a conference or an escorted FAM (familiarization trip). But when it comes to deducting travel expenses for any trip that’s in any way attached to personal travel, you’re entering some serious gray area (I like to call this Grayland).

The IRS isn’t super helpful when it comes to navigating Grayland. Their verdict is this, “If your trip was conducted 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.”

Not exactly cut and dry. Sigh.

I can’t advise you on your taxes (trust me, everyone loses in this scenario). But here are a few guiding questions that help you determine if your trip is justifiable as a travel expense (and to what extent).

1. What is the primary purpose of your trip? You know in your heart of hearts whether your primary purpose is business or personal. If your primary purpose is to go to Mexico with your family, it’s going to be a tough sell to deduct your travel expenses. (Even if you do sell the resort or region you’re staying at.)

If the primary purpose of your trip is an Oaxaca FAM that’s sponsored by the Mexico tourism board, then that’s a different story. We’ll talk more about mixing business with pleasure later. But here’s the major takeaway: You can deduct only the expenses of your trip that are directly related to business. (Remember: reasonable, ordinary, necessary).

2. How much of your trip is spent on activities directly related to business activities? You can only write off the travel expenses directly related to business activity. So if you spend 10 days in Mexico with your family, but you spend 3 days ditching your family to go on-site inspections you scheduled weeks ago, you can reasonably write off a portion of your trip as a business expense.

Conversely, if you go on your family vacation and decide to pop into the nearest Sandals at the last minute for a self-administered “tour” in the name of business activity, that is a serious foul in the eyes of the IRS. (We’ll get into scenarios later).

3. Will your business derive income from the trip? You can have the most un-fun, jam-packed business trip in the world. But if you don’t make a good-faith effort to do any follow-up (ahem, earn moolah) with all your great meetings and research, then this could raise a red flag to the IRS.

4. Is the business activity necessary to your business/niche? If your niche is Italy, it’s going to be tough to write off a trip to Hawaii if you’ve never booked that destination (and don’t plan on doing it any time soon).

5. Is the trip necessary to the business operations you’re conducting? Working away from your tax home doesn’t automatically qualify as a travel expense. To deduct travel expenses, the business activity must necessitate the trip.

For example, if I go visit a friend in Paris and spend three full days working on this blog post about travel expenses, I may not deduct my trip as a business expense because I could easily conduct these business operations from home. Major bummer (because who isn't inspired to write about travel expenses when they see the Arc de Triomphe?)

The same goes for travel agents. If you’re on a family vacation but you’re still booking trips and supporting your clients from afar, your travel expenses are not deductible as travel expenses 1 because the trip wasn’t required for that particular business activity.

At the end of the day, you need to rely on your common sense (or, better yet, the common sense of your CPA or accountant). Remember the golden rule: travel expenses must be reasonable and necessary to your business.

How do you decide what’s reasonable? The following scenarios will help provide a little perspective.

Business Travel Expense Scenarios for Travel Agents

When it comes to deducting any business travel expenses that are (in any way) attached to personal travel, the CPA/accountants I chatted with agreed to proceed with caution.

If you’re mixing personal and business travel, be clear about what days you spend working and document your meetings and business activity during those days.

As an example, here are a few scenarios by way of example. Please remember that these scenarios are just crib notes. They’re intended to help give you a lay of the land, not to advise you in any way shape, or form:

Scenario 1 (The Conference)

You fly to the annual ASTA conference on Tues. and stay through Fri. The entire time is scheduled with conference activities except for breakfasts, which you purchase every morning at the resort cafe and charge to your room. On Thurs. night after the conference is over, you take an Uber to meet your long-distance college friend for dinner and drinks. You fly out early Friday morning.

Travel expenses are entirely deductible except for the Uber rides (to and from) and dinner and drinks with your friend.

Scenario 2 (The FAM)

You’re invited to an escorted FAM in Hawaii. The FAM is 3 days, but you decide to take your family with you and extend your trip, tacking on a 7-day family vacation after your FAM. You stay at the same resort with your family as you did during the FAM.

Since your business operations necessitated the trip to Hawaii, you can write off 100% of your flight and transportation to and from the airport (so long as it’s reasonable). Why? Because you’d have to fly to and from Hawaii and transfer to and from the airport to conduct your business anyway.

Additionally, you can also deduct other travel expenses incurred while you were working (such as meals and incidentals). If you rented a car, you can prorate your rental fees according to what percentage of the time you used it for work (e.g. 30% for 3 of ten days of total cost may be deductible).

Scenario 3 (working on vacation part I)

You’re on a family vacation to Disney World for 5 days. You take a last-minute lunch meeting to meet a new property manager at a resort you often book. The rest of the time, you enjoy with your family, posting about your time together on your travel agency's social media.

None of this trip is deductible except for your meal with the property manager. Sad face.

Scenario 4 (working on vacation part II)

A baseball fanatic, you decide to go to Japan for the Japan Series. While you’re there, you bring work with you and spend three hours per day booking trips and supporting your traveling clients. The rest of the time, you watch baseball and explore Japan.

None of your travel expenses are deductible because your trip to Japan wasn’t necessary for the business operations you were conducting while there.

These scenarios are merely examples. I know that real-life scenarios are much more complicated. If you’re mixing personal and business travel, be clear about what days you spend working and document your meetings and business activity during those days.

At the end of the day, it’s easiest to document your business activity and track expenses if you keep your personal and business travel separate. And let’s be honest, it’s best for your work-life balance too! Ultimately, you need to ensure you’re doing your due diligence to record and document your trips. Guess what?! We have a few tools to help you do just that.

Pro Tips on Tracking & Documenting Your Business Travel Expenses

Entering your expenses on beautiful sheets is just part of the administrative fun of tracking travel expenses.

Beyond that cursory bookkeeping, you need to have receipts, journals, and other documentation to back up your travel expenses. Why?

If the IRS comes calling with an audit letter, you may need to provide your documentation to prove that your travel expenses were (wait for it) reasonable and necessary. To make things more exciting, the IRS can hit you up for explanations about travel you took years ago.

Get all the info you need: When it comes to big-picture travel expenses, make sure that the receipts have all the details necessary to satisfy the IRS.

Here’s what the IRS considers enough detail:

Destination Area of Travel
Date(s) You left for and returned from your trip
Number of days spent on business
Amount of expense(s)

Here are a few tips to make this process as painless as possible:

1. Track Your Cash for incidentals: This tip is from Jay: If you take out cash for tips (or other incidentals) from an ATM, the ATM receipt is not enough documentation. You should write down on your ATM receipt the date, location/service, and amount, for which you tipped if you want to take it as a deduction.

2. On meal receipts, write down who attended and what business you discussed: This will help you jog your memory if you ever need to provide further documentation for your expense.

3. For transportation expenses beyond going between the airport and hotel, write down where you’re going: When you’re taking the rideshare to the ASTA gala, write down the destination/event on your receipt.

4. Keep detailed journals/documentation of business you conduct during travel: This is especially important for “Grayland” travel. It’s a benefit for yourself as much as it is for the IRS. But after your trip, write down your actionable items that relate to how you will derive income from your trip.

Are you going to create a new marketing initiative based on the site you toured? Great. Are you going to follow up with future potential clients? Fabulous. Are you growing your list of supplier contacts to expand your book of business? Write down how you plan to follow up on your trip to grow your business.

Tips for Documenting Your Travel Expenses

The truth is that as a good business person, you'll have all this information at your fingertips. Really, it’s just a matter of corralling all that info into one place.

Pro Tips on Developing a Documentation System for your Travel expenses

Stephanie Cannon weighed in on the importance of developing a system to document your expenses. See her tip below:

It's not only crucial to track the various trip expenses but to also develop a documentation system. In this digital age, I use folders on my computer, 1 for the year, and multiple for each trip during that year. Inside each trip folder, I include a summary sheet (Excel) that lists out all of the transaction details for each expense with a note of what it was for. I then upload all of the appropriate receipts for safekeeping (and store any paper copies in a large envelope).

~ Stephanie Cannon (2022)

Want to see this in action? Join Stephanie for her (free) "Travel Advisor's Know Your Numbers Challenge." Her challenge is the runway into a more in-depth Bookkeeping Bootcamp for travel advisors, covering how to set up and complete their bookkeeping process on a routine basis, no matter what “tool” you decide to use.

How Long Do I Keep all this Fun Documentation?

The IRS is allowed to dredge up the past. So you want to hang on to all your tax documents. If you’ve been in the biz for a while, you probably have enough receipts to wallpaper your entire house.

So when exactly can you throw all the stuff away? The rule of thumb is to keep documentation for:

3 years from the date you filed your return or
7 years if you claim a loss

If alarm bells went off when you read “rule of thumb” in regard to taxes, then you’re really getting the spirit of this article! Don’t take it from me. Read the lengthier recommendation on the IRS site or [enter refrain] talk to your CPA.

Travel Expense Calculator & Tracker

We whipped up a few goodies to help you along your voyage of figuring out your travel expenses. Now that you know which of your travel expenses you can deduct, we have a nifty resource you can use to approximate how much of your trip you can write off. It's also a resource to help you document the purpose of your trips as well (in case you need to refresh your memory).

How does it work?

Enter your total deductible expenses
Document the purpose of your business travel
upload receipts

This means that all your travel documentation will be at your fingertips for bookkeeping purposes so if the IRS calls you and asks the purpose of that travel conference and FAM at an all-inclusive in Puerto Vallarta, then you have everything you need at your fingertips.

Here's a quick look at how the travel expense calculator works:

You give the travel expense calculator a gander. But know that, if you decide you want to copy and download the template for yourself or your business, you'll need to create a free Airtable account (essentially it's a spreadsheet on steroids). This tool will help calculate and track your travel expenses and provide the kind of documentation the IRS (or your bookkeeper) wants to see!

HAR's Tax Organizer

2. har tax organizer.

We're so excited about HAR's tax organizer that we're going to put the download in our article a second time! (In case we didn't have you convinced at the beginning of the article.

Now you know your actual travel expenses, and you can enter your tally! Hurray! But where do you put all this delectable information? That’s right, in your HAR Tax Organizer !

Now, if I may say so myself, HAR’s tax organizer is a thing of beauty. It’s a form where you calculate all your business expenses. That’s right, we’re talking waaaay beyond travel expenses here!

So download your form and give it a test run by entering your travel expenses.

Other Travel Expense Tools!

1. tracking apps (har uses expensify ).

The more you travel, the more impossible it will be to remember the Wheres? Whys? and What Fors? of your travel expenses. If you are overwhelmed at the thought of tracking all your expenses, stop everything and download an expense-tracking app.

I’m sure there are a ton of expense apps out there, and we’re not going to dig into different options here. HAR uses Expensify. It’s user-friendly and helps create reports very quickly.

What do you use? Tell us in the comments!

2. Per Diem Rate Calculator:

Per diem rates vary depending on where you're going (and what year it is). This is a nifty way of determining legitimate, standard per diem rates according to your destination. Remember, if you’re self-employed, you can only use the meal and incidental expenses (M&IE) per diem and you must still document all the expenses.

3. Accounting/ Bookkeeping Software

Below is a list of accounting software.

Quickbooks , Freshbooks , and Xero are great for smaller agencies or if you’re starting out. If you want a free option, you can use a Google Spreadsheet or Excel document. (HAR uses Quickbooks.)
TRAMS and Globalware are for large travel agencies and are travel-specific (unlike the above programs). For the average agency, these programs are not cost-effective.

If you're a die-hard DIY-er You can also use free resources such as Google spreadsheets or Excel sheets.

Thank Yous!

I can’t emphasize enough how little I knew about taxes before chatting with these amazing people: Stephanie Cannon, thank you for sharing your very rare travel-accounting hybrid knowledge with me, and for reviewing this article to help insure it provides the latest juicy gossip on tax regulations!

Jay Elstad has a ton of experience working with travel professionals. I called Jay during his BUSIEST season (mea culpa)! And you know what, he didn’t even get mad at me. In fact, he really went the extra mile to answer my questions and review this article.

Editor's Note: This article was first published on March 2nd, 2020. We update and republish it annually to include the latest information on travel expense deductions. The most current publish date is listed at the top of the article.

It’s important to note we’re talking about travel expenses only. You can still write off necessary office expenses you need to conduct business, such as phone calls, wifi, a portion of lodging used for your office, etc. ↩

About the Author

Mary Stein has been working as a writer and editor for Host Agency Reviews since 2016. She loves supporting travel advisors on their entrepreneurial journey and is inspired by their passion, tenacity, and creativity. Mary is also a mom, dog lover, fiction writer, hiker, and a Great British Bake Off superfan.

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New Business Travel Per Diem Rates Announced for 2023

Recordkeeping for reimbursing business travel expenses can be cumbersome. Instead of reimbursing employees for the actual costs they incur for out-of-town lodging, meals and incidentals, some employers opt to pay fixed travel per diems. These amounts are based on IRS-approved rates that vary by locality. Here’s what you’ll need to know to determine if this simplified approach is right for your business.

Lowdown on the High-Low Method

Under the “high-low method,” the IRS establishes an annual flat rate for certain areas with higher costs of living. All locations within the continental United States that aren’t listed as “high-cost” automatically fall into the low-cost category. The high-low method may be used in lieu of specific per diem rates for business destinations. Examples of high-cost areas include San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C. (See the chart below for a complete list by state.)

Under some circumstances — for example, if an employer provides lodging or pays the hotel directly — employees may receive a per diem reimbursement only for their meals and incidental expenses. There’s also a $5 incidental-expenses-only rate for employees who don’t pay or incur meal expenses for a calendar day (or partial day) of travel.

The following items aren’t considered incidental expenses:

Transportation between places of lodging or business and places where meals are taken, and
The mailing cost of filing travel vouchers and paying employer-sponsored charge card billings.

You should consider reimbursing employees separately for these expenses, and then deducting the amounts as ordinary business expenses.

No More Receipts

If your company uses per diem rates, employees don’t have to meet the usual recordkeeping rules required by law. Receipts of expenses generally aren’t required under the per diem method. Instead, your organization simply pays the specified allowance to employees.

But employees still must substantiate the time, place and business purpose of the travel. Per diem reimbursements generally aren’t subject to income or payroll tax withholding or reported on the employee’s Form W-2. It’s also important to note that per diem rates can’t be paid to individuals who own 10% or more of the business.

Updated Rates

The IRS recently updated the per diem rates for business travel for fiscal year 2023, which started on October 1, 2022. Under the high-low method, the per diem rate for all high-cost areas within the continental United States is $297 for post-September 30, 2022, travel ($223 for lodging and $74 for meals and incidental expenses). For all other areas within the continental United States, the per diem rate is $204 for post-September 30, 2022, travel ($140 for lodging and $64 for meals and incidental expenses). Compared to the prior simplified per diems, both the high-cost area per diem has increased $1, and the low-cost area per diem has increased $2.

The IRS also modified the list of high-cost areas for post-September 30 travel. The following locations have been added to the high-cost list:

Gulf Shores, Ala.,
Phoenix/Scottsdale, Ariz.,
San Luis Obispo, Calif.,
Durango, Colo.,
Steamboat Springs, Colo.,
Bradenton, Fla.,
Cocoa Beach, Fla.,
Gulf Breeze, Fla.,
Panama City, Fla.,
Pensacola, Fla.,
Punta Gorda, Fla.,
Sarasota, Fla.,
Sebring, Fla.,
Stuart, Fla.,
Sun Valley/Ketchum, Idaho,
Portland, Maine,
Mackinac Island, Mich.,
Duluth, Minn.,
Kalispell/Whitefish, Mont.,
Toms River, N.J.,
Glens Falls, N.Y.,
Kill Devil Hills, N.C.,
Lincoln City, Ore.,
Myrtle Beach, S.C.,
Moab, Utah,
Manchester, Vt., and
Port Angeles/Port Townsend, Wash.

Crested Butte/Gunnison, Colo., has been removed from the previous list of high-cost localities. In addition, certain tourist-attraction areas only count as high-cost areas on a seasonal basis. Starting on October 1, the portion of the year in which the following locations are high-cost localities has changed:

Sedona, Ariz.,
Napa, Calif.,
San Diego, Calif.,
Silverthorne/Breckenridge, Colo.,
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
Fort Walton Beach/DeFuniak Springs, Fla.,
Key West, Fla.,
Bar Harbor/Rockport, Maine,
Falmouth, Mass.,
Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.,
Nantucket, Mass.,
Jamestown/Middleton/Newport, R.I.,
Charleston, S.C.,
Park City, Utah, and
Jackson/Pinedale, Wyo.

Important : This method is subject to various rules and restrictions. For example, if you use the high-low method for an employee, you must continue to use it for all reimbursement of business travel expenses within the continental United States during the calendar year. Your company may use any permissible method to reimburse that employee for any travel outside the continental United States, however.

For travel during the last three months of a calendar year, you must continue to use the same method (per diem or high-low) for an employee as you used during the first nine months of the calendar year. Also, your organization may use either:

1. The rates and high-cost localities in effect for the first nine months of the calendar year, or 2. The updated rates and high-cost localities in effect for the last three months of the calendar year, as long as you use the same rates and localities consistently for all employees reimbursed under the high-low method.

CAA Temporarily Suspends Limits on Meals Deductions

In terms of deducting amounts reimbursed to employees on their company’s tax return, employers normally must treat meals and incidental expenses as a food and beverage expense that’s subject to the 50% deduction limit on meal expenses. For certain types of employees — such as air transport workers, interstate truckers and bus drivers — the percentage is 80% for food and beverage expenses related to a period of duty subject to the hours-of-service limits of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Important : Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), for 2021 and 2022 only, business meals provided by restaurants are 100% deductible. Starting on January 1, 2023, the previous limits on deducting business meals while traveling are scheduled to resume.

TCJA Suspends Deductions for Unreimbursed Travel Expenses

For 2018 through 2025, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) suspended miscellaneous itemized deductions for individual taxpayers. These deductions include such items as tax preparation costs, investment expenses, union dues and unreimbursed employee business expenses. Under prior law, taxpayers could deduct miscellaneous itemized deductions on their personal tax returns to the extent that the total exceeded 2% of adjusted gross income.

So, unless your business has formal expense reimbursement policies and procedures in place, your employees won’t be able to deduct any business-related travel expenses on their personal returns. Instead, for 2018 through 2025, they’ll be forced to pay out-of-pocket for unreimbursed out-of-town lodging, meals and incidental expenses. If your company doesn’t have a formal expense reimbursement plan, it could be at a disadvantage when trying to attract and retain employees who travel regularly.

On the other hand, employer-reimbursed travel expenses aren’t taxable to the employee. And your organization can deduct reimbursed travel expenses as an ordinary business expense.

High-Cost Area List for 2023

Key City (Effective Dates*)

Gulf Shores (June 1-July 31)

Phoenix/Scottsdale (February 1-March 31)

Los Angeles (October 1-October 31; January 1-September 30)

Mill Valley/San Rafael/Novato (October 1-October 31; June 1-September 30)

Monterey (June 1-August 31)

San Diego (February 1-August 31)

San Francisco

San Luis Obispo (June 1-August 31)

San Mateo/Foster City/Belmont

Santa Barbara

Santa Monica

Sunnyvale/Palo Alto/San Jose

Aspen (October 1-March 31; June 1-September 30)

Denver/Aurora (October 1-October 31; April 1-September 30)

Durango (June 1-September 30)

Grand Lake (December 1-March 31)

Silverthorne/Breckenridge (October 1-March 31; June 1-September 30)

Steamboat Springs (December 1-March 31)

Lewes (July 1-August 31)

District of Columbia

Washington, D.C.

Boca Raton/Delray Beach/Jupiter (December 1-April 30)

Bradenton (February 1-March 31)

Cocoa Beach (February 1-March 31)

Fort Lauderdale (October 1-April 30)

Fort Myers (February 1-March 31)

Fort Walton Beach/DeFuniak Springs (October 1-October 31; March 1-September 30)

Gulf Breeze (June 1-July 31)

Key West (October 1-September 30)

Miami (December 1-March 31)

Naples (December 1-April 30)

Panama City (June 1-July 31)

Pensacola (June 1-July 31)

Punta Gorda (February 1-March 31)

Sarasota (February 1-April 30)

Sebring (February 1-March 31)

Stuart (February 1-March 31)

Vero Beach (December 1-April 30)

Georgia Jekyll Island/Brunswick (March 1-July 31)

Idaho Sun Valley/Ketchum (December 1-March 31; June 1-September 30)

Chicago (October 1-November 30; April 1-September 30)

Bar Harbor/Rockport (October 1-October 31; July 1-September 30)

Kennebunk/Kittery/Sanford (July 1-August 31)

Portland (July 1-August 31)

Ocean City (July 1-August 31)

Massachusetts

Boston/Cambridge

Falmouth (May 1-August 31)

Hyannis (July 1-August 31)

Martha’s Vineyard

Michigan Mackinac Island (July 1-August 31)

Petoskey (July 1-August 31)

Traverse City (July 1-August 31)

Minnesota Duluth (October 1-October 31; June 1-September 30)

Montana Big Sky/West Yellowstone/Gardiner (June 1-September 30)

Kalispell/Whitefish (June 1-August 31)

New Mexico Carlsbad

Toms River (July 1-August 31)

Glens Falls (July 1-August 31)

Lake Placid (July 1-August 31)

New York City (October 1-December 31; March 1-September 30)

North Carolina

Kills Devil Hills (April 1-September 30)

Lincoln City (July 1-August 31)

Portland (October 1-October 31; June 1-September 30)

Seaside (July 1-August 31)

Pennsylvania

Hershey (June 1-August 31)

Philadelphia (October 1-November 30; March 1-June 30; September 1-September 30)

Rhode Island

Jamestown/Middletown/Newport (October 1-October 31; June 1-September 30)

South Carolina

Hilton Head (June 1-August 31)

Myrtle Beach (June 1-August 31)

Utah Moab (October 1-October 31; March 1-September 30)

Virginia Beach (June 1-August 31)

Wallops Island (July 1-August 31)

Port Angeles/Port Townsend (July 1-August 31)

Vancouver (October 1-October 31; June 1-September 30)

Cody (June 1-September 30)

Jackson/Pinedale

* If no effective date is listed, the location is a high-cost area all year long.

– Source: IRS

For More Information

Don’t let expense reimbursements for business travel become a source of frustration for you or your employees. Contact your tax advisor for ideas to simplify the reimbursement process that will pass IRS scrutiny, while eliminating administrative red tape.

This article appeared in Walz Group’s October 5 , 2022 issue of The Bottom Line e-newsletter, produced by Checkpoint Marketing .

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Mileage allowance: rates, calculations and reimbursement

What is an expense report.

An expense report is a document employees use to justify business-related costs they incurred while on the job. These expenses can range from meals to train tickets.

An employee cannot deduct the amount reimbursed through an expense report from their salary; typically, it is not taxable. For an expense report to be approved, the expenses must be:

Job-related: Essential for performing work duties.
Reasonable: Proportional to the task and industry standards.
Documented: Supported by receipts or other proof of purchase.

What are mileage expenses?

Mileage expenses are costs employees incur when using their personal vehicles for business travel. Trips can be work commutes or travel for other professional reasons. Tax authorities publish an annual mileage rate that determines mileage expense reimbursements.

Mileage allowance vs. mileage report

A mileage allowance refers to the reimbursement rate per kilometer (or mile, depending on the country) authorized by the tax authorities.

On the other hand, a mileage report is a document employees use to detail their business travel using a personal vehicle and request reimbursement based on the mileage allowance. Employees need to submit mileage reports to receive compensation for their travel expenses. Using a company template or expense management software simplifies the process of creating these reports.

All micro-entrepreneurs are required to pay income tax and social security contributions. However, they can opt for the "versements libératoires" (VFL) system, allowing them to make flexible payments throughout the year based on their sales. This empowering system helps you avoid the burden of a large, lump-sum payment, giving you more control over your finances.

What information goes on a mileage report?

While there are no legal requirements for specific information on a mileage report, including certain details ensures efficient processing by the employer. Common information on a mileage report includes:

Employee information (name, address, etc.)
Company information (name, address, etc.)
Date of business trip
Expense amount
Payment method
Reason for the trip
Trip details (departure and arrival locations, mileage, etc.)
Employee and employer signatures

Employees should keep receipts for any mileage-related expenses to complete and expedite the reimbursement process. These receipts should be attached to the mileage report for complete expense justification.

How are mileage expenses calculated?

Reimbursing mileage expenses follows a scale set by tax authorities, updated yearly. The amount you get back hinges mostly on how far you've driven and your vehicle's engine power. Electric vehicles typically receive a 20 percent increase in the mileage allowance. To calculate your reimbursement, you need to multiply the distance you've traveled by the corresponding rate from the table provided.

The provided table showcases the 2023 mileage allowance scale based on administrative horsepower (HP) and distance traveled.

Mileage Allowance Scale (France, 2023)

An employee with a 5 HP car travels 3,000 kilometers for business purposes. According to the table, the employee would multiply the distance (3,000 km) by the corresponding rate (0.636) to determine the mileage reimbursement amount (approximately $1,908).

This table allows employees to estimate their potential mileage reimbursement.

Managing mileage reports with Expensya

Processing mileage reports, like any business expense documentation, can be time-consuming for both employees and employers. Expense management solutions like Expensya can streamline this process. Expensya's features, including Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and a user-friendly interface, help reduce costs, errors, and administrative time.

Want to see how it works? Schedule a demo or meeting today.

Customer stories

Discover the ways that Expensya customers are simplifying their travel and expense management with a solution that just works.

Read stories

More expense management, payment and travel resources

Our library of case studies, videos, events, guides and reports are available to help you more efficiently manage employee expenses.

Explore resources

Expensya Barometer Report

Learn about the trends in the “what” and “how” of employee spend, pulled from actual expense management data, in the annual Expensya barometer report.

View trends

What are the benefits of AI in expense management?

Expense Management Software for Large Businesses: Key Features to Look For

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New Study Shows Strong Demand for Business Travel in 2024

Internova Travel Group , one of the world's largest travel services companies, has just revealed the results of its recent survey, the ‘2024 Internova Index: North American Business Traveler Insights’ report, which indicates that the industry is seeing a strong demand for business travel . The research gathered insights from millions of travel bookings and a comprehensive survey of business travelers in the United States and Canada.

According to the report 85 percent of business travelers anticipate traveling the same amount or more frequently in 2024, as compared to 2023. Notably, approximately 30 percent of respondents engage in "bleisure" travel, combining business trips with leisure time and activities.

Meanwhile, the average daily rate (ADR) for hotel bookings by business travelers in the U.S. increased by approximately five percent from 2022 to 2023. Additionally, travel agencies are proving increasingly essential in making business travel reservations since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The North American Business Traveler Insights report is a specialized edition of The Internova Index: North American Traveler Insights series, focusing specifically on corporate travel trends. The inaugural version of this annual report draws on extensive data analysis of travel bookings in North America, along with a consumer survey involving approximately 3,000 travelers.

The study segmented business travelers into three categories: Executives, meaning senior management personnel; Road Warriors, frequent travelers often in sales or client-facing roles; and Occasional Travelers, whose roles involve minimal travel.

"Our newest Internova Index report presents a carefully researched and hopeful outlook for business travel in 2024," said J.D. O'Hara, CEO of Internova Travel Group. "It's clear that our business travel clients appreciate the vital assistance we gave them during and after the pandemic, and they are relying on us in ever-increasing numbers to provide the same high level of expert service, no matter where their work takes them."

While the overall number of trips per business traveler increased by three percent between 2022 and 2023, the segment that experienced the most significant growth was the Road Warriors, with a 30 percent increase in domestic trips. Furthermore, 30 percent of all business travelers anticipate traveling more in 2024 compared to the previous year. On the whole, 30 percent of all business travelers said that they anticipate traveling more in 2024 compared to last year.

Since 2019, there has been a notable rise in the use of travel advisors for booking business travel. This trend, which continues to grow, was likely influenced by the difficulty and confusion that accompanied travel planning during the pandemic and directly thereafter. Road Warriors, in particular, are 15 percent more likely to utilize a travel management company—whether that’s an online tool or a human advisor—this year than in 2019.

The 2024 Internova Index: North American Business Traveler Insights report was developed by Internova Analytics and Consulting, leveraging proprietary data sources and expertise, plus a dedicated project delivery team to provide valuable industry insights. Internova Analytics and Consulting offers tailored collaborations to assist travel industry participants in adjusting to emerging trends and tackling their most urgent obstacles.

"Last year, our team of analysts, consultants and travel experts harnessed our proprietary data to release the first Internova Index, focusing on general travel trends," said Henry Gilroy, Senior Vice President, Strategic Development at Internova Travel Group. "We're excited to expand more into the corporate space and demonstrate to our partners that we can support their analytical needs across all segments of the market."

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US Airlines gain $7.8 billion in 2023, an increase over 2022

U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reported a 2023 after-tax net profit of $7.8 billion, and a pre-tax operating profit of $13.2 billion.

U.S. airline financial reports are filed quarterly with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). See the tables that accompany this release on the BTS website for additional 2023 annual (Tables 1-6) and fourth-quarter (Tables 7-12) financial results.

2023 Annual Results for All 26 Scheduled Passenger Airlines

Bar chart systemwide U.S. scheduled service passenger airlines annual net income for 2019-2023

After-tax net income

$7.8 billion profit in 2023
Compared to $1.6 billion profit in 2022

Pre-tax operating profit/loss

$13.2 billion profit in 2023
Compared to $7.9 billion profit in 2022
Fares: $179.2 billion, 75.8%, compared to 73.5% in 2022
Baggage fees : $7.1 billion, 3.0%, compared to 3.2% in 2022
Reservation change fees : $1.1 billion, 0.4%, compared to 0.5% in 2022

Fees are included for calculations of net income, operating revenue and operating profit or loss.

Fuel: $47.6 billion 21.3%, compared to 24.2% in 2022
Labor: $77.6 billion 34.8%, compared to 31.5% in 2022

Domestic results for 26 scheduled airlines

Bar chart domestic U.S. scheduled service passenger airlines annual net income for 2019 through 2023

After-tax domestic net income

$4.3 billion profit in 2023
Compared to $1.8 billion profit in 2022

Pre-tax domestic operating profit/loss

$8.4 billion profit in 2023
Compared to $6.9 billion profit in 2022
Fares: $128.9 billion, 73.1%, compared to 71.5% in 2022
Baggage fees : $5.7 billion, 3.2%, compared to 3.3% in 2022
Reservation change fees : $902 million, 0.5%, compared to 0.5% in 2022

Fees are included for calculations of net income, operating revenue and operating profit or loss.

Fuel: $33.0 billion, 19.7%, compared to 22.1% in 2022
Labor: $58.3 billion, 34.7%, compared to 31.4% in 2022

International results for 20 scheduled U.S. airlines

Bar chart showing international U.S. scheduled service passenger airlines annual net income for 2019 through 2023

After-tax international net income

$3.5 billion profit in 2023
Compared to $256 million loss in 2022

Pre-tax international operating profit

$4.8 billion profit in 2023
Compared to $1.0 billion profit in 2022
Fares: $50.3 billion, 83.9%, compared to 80.4% in 2022
Baggage fees : $1.4 billion, 2.3%, compared to 2.8% in 2022
Reservation change fees : $161 million, 0.3%, compared to 0.3% in 2022

Fees are included for calculations of net income, operating revenue and operating profit or loss.

Fuel: $14.5 billion, 26.3%, compared to 31.3% in 2022
Labor: $19.2 billion, 34.8%, compared to 31.7% in 2022

2023 Margins

Net margin is the net income or loss as a percentage of operating revenue. Operating margin is the operating profit or loss as a percentage of operating revenue.

Systemwide: Net income margin:

3.3% in 2023
Compared to 0.7% in 2022

Operating margin:

5.6% in 2023
Compared to 3.7% in 2022

Domestic Net income margin:

2.5% in 2023
Compared to 1.1% in 2022
4.8% in 2023
Compared to 4.2% in 2022

International Net income margin:

5.8% in 2023
Compared to -0.5% in 2022
8.0% in 2023
Compared to 2.2% in 2022

4Q 2023 Results for All 24 Scheduled U.S. Passenger Airlines

U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reported a fourth-quarter 2023 after-tax net profit of $2.0 billion and a pre-tax operating profit of $2.2 billion.

One year earlier, in the fourth quarter of 2022, the airlines reported an after-tax net profit of $2.1 billion and a pre-tax operating profit of $3.7 billion.

Bar chart systemwide U.S. scheduled service passenger airlines quarterly net income in 4Q 2022 through 4Q 2023

$2.0 billion profit in 4Q 2023
Compared to $1.6 billion profit in 3Q 2023
Compared to $2.1 billion profit in 4Q 2022

Pre-tax operating profit

$2.2 billion profit in 4Q 2023
Compared to $3.3 billion profit in 3Q 2023
Compared to $3.7 billion profit in 4Q 2022
Fares: $44.6 billion, 75.7%, compared to 75.0% in 4Q 2022
Baggage fees : $1.7 billion, 2.9%, compared to 3.1% in 4Q 2022
Reservation change fees : $257 million, 0.4%, compared to 0.5% in 4Q 2022
Fuel: $12.5 billion, 22.1%, compared to 23.8% in 4Q 2022
Labor: $20.0 billion, 35.3%, compared to 32.0% in 4Q 2022

Domestic operations, includes 24 U.S. airlines:

Bar chart showing domestic U.S. scheduled service passenger airlines quarterly net profit in 4Q 2022 through 4Q 2023

After-tax domestic net profit ( net income )

$1.5 billion profit in 4Q 2023
Compared to $424 million profit in 3Q 2023
Compared to $1.3 billion profit in 4Q 2022

Pre-tax domestic operating profit

$1.9 billion profit in 4Q 2023
Compared to $1.4 billion profit in 3Q 2023
Compared to $2.7 billion loss in 4Q 2022
Fares: $32.8 billion, 73.2%, compared to 72.9% in 4Q 2022
Baggage fees : $1.4 billion, 3.1%, compared to 3.3% in 4Q 2022
Reservation change fees : $221 million, 0.5%, compared to 0.6% in 4Q 2022
Fuel: $8.7 billion, 20.2%, compared to 21.8% in 4Q 2022
Labor: $15.2 billion, 35.4%, compared to 32.1% in 4Q 2022

International operations, includes 19 U.S. airlines:

Bar chart showing international U.S. scheduled service passenger airlines quarterly after tax net profit in 4Q 2022 through 4Q2023

After-tax international net profit (net income)

$513 million profit in 4Q 2023
Compared to $1.2 billion profit in 3Q 2023
Compared to $782 million loss in 4Q 2022

Pre-tax international operating profit

$301 million profit in 4Q 2023
Compared to $1.9 billion profit in 3Q 2023
Compared to $983 million profit in 4Q 2022
Fares: $11.9 billion, 83.6%, compared to 82.1% in 4Q 2022
Baggage fees : $333 million, 2.3%, compared to 2.5% in 4Q 2022
Reservation change fees : $36 million, 0.3%, compared to 0.3% in 4Q 2022

Fees are included for calculations of net income, operating revenue and operating profit or loss.

Fuel: $3.9 billion, 27.7%, compared to 30.8% in 4Q 2022
Labor: $4.8 billion, 34.8%, compared to 31.8% in 4Q 2022

4th Quarter Margins

Systemwide: Net income margin:

3.4% in 4Q2023
Compared to 3.7% in 4Q2022
3.7% in 4Q2023
Compared to 6.5% in 4Q2022
3.3% in 4Q2023
Compared to 2.9% in 4Q2022
4.2% in 4Q2023
Compared to 6.2% in 4Q2022
3.6% in 4Q2023
Compared to 6.1% in 4Q2022
2.1% in 4Q2023
Compared to 7.7% in 4Q2022

Reporting notes Additional data: BTS website, see tables for operating profit/loss , operating revenue and fuel cost and consumption . See the BTS financial databases for more detailed data including numbers for individual airlines.

Filing requirement: By regulation, for the quarter ending Dec. 31, airlines that operate at least one aircraft that is designed/certified for more than 60 seats or the capacity to carry a payload of passengers and cargo weighing more than 18,000 pounds must report financial data to BTS by March 31. The airline filings are subject to a process of quality assurance and data validations before release to the public.

Data updates: Revised carrier data and late data filings will be made available monthly on TranStats on the Monday following the second Tuesday of the month. All data are subject to revision. BTS will release first-quarter 2024 data on June 16.

Missing carriers: The information provided within BTS statistical releases may not be based on 100% of reporting carriers. Generally, data are released per schedule if reports have been received from at least 90% of the carriers, along with data from all the major carriers. Regarding this release, the following carriers remain pending: Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp (ZW), Aloha Air Cargo (KH), Northern Air Cargo Inc. (NC), Kalitta Charters II (KLQ), Silver Airways (3M). Also, within text, percent change results may not be exact due to rounding.

2023-2024 Fiscal Close Procedures for Travel Accounting

May 10, 2024

Please be aware of these important dates and procedures related to travel and entertainment (T&E) reimbursements and expenses.

Important Dates

Travel & entertainment expenses, including company card transactions for direct-billed airfare and service fees for trips concluded prior to June 1 , must be received in the Concur Travel Accounting queue (reimbursements and direct billing) or the Travel Accounting office (vendor invoices) for processing by 5 p.m. Friday, June 7, to be processed for Fiscal Year 2023 ‐ 24.
Travel & entertainment expenses, including company card transactions for direct-billed airfare and service fees for trips concluded between June 1 and June 14 , must be received in the Concur Travel Accounting queue (reimbursements and direct billing) or the Travel Accounting office (vendor invoices) for processing by 5 p.m. Friday, June 14, to be processed for Fiscal Year 2023 ‐ 24.
Travel & entertainment expenses (reimbursements and vendor invoices) submitted after 5 p.m. on Friday, June 14, will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis after all submissions made before the deadline are completed. Submissions made after the deadline are NOT guaranteed and may be posted with an effective date in the new fiscal year.
R efer to the Concur Travel hub for information about submitting T&E reimbursements .
Refer to the Electronic Invoicing web page for instructions on submitting T&E invoices .

10920 Wilshire Blvd., 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90024-6541 Mail Code: 143348 Phone: (310) 206-2639 or (800) 235-UCLA (8252)

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Publication 334 - Additional Material

Publication 334 (2023), tax guide for small business, (for individuals who use schedule c).

For use in preparing 2023 Returns

Publication 334 - Introductory Material

For the latest information about developments related to Pub. 334, such as legislation enacted after it was published, go to IRS.gov/Pub334 .

This publication provides general information about the federal tax laws that apply to you if you are a self-employed person or a statutory employee. This publication has information on business income, expenses, and tax credits that may help you, as a small business owner, file your income tax return.

You are a self-employed person if you carry on a trade or business as a sole proprietor or an independent contractor.

Trade or business. A trade or business is generally an activity carried on to make a profit. The facts and circumstances of each case determine whether or not an activity is a trade or business. You do not need to actually make a profit to be in a trade or business as long as you have a profit motive. You do need to make ongoing efforts to further the interests of your business.

Limited liability company (LLC). An LLC is an entity formed under state law by filing articles of organization. Generally, for income tax purposes, a single-member LLC is disregarded as an entity separate from its owner and reports its income and deductions on its owner's federal income tax return. For example, if the single-member LLC is not engaged in farming and the owner is an individual, they may use Schedule C.

Sole proprietor. A sole proprietor is someone who owns an unincorporated business by themselves. You are also a sole proprietor for income tax purposes if you are an individual and the sole member of a domestic LLC unless you elect to have the LLC treated as a corporation.

Independent contractor. People such as doctors, dentists, veterinarians, lawyers, accountants, contractors, subcontractors, public stenographers, or auctioneers who are in an independent trade, business, or profession in which they offer their services to the general public are generally independent contractors. However, whether they are independent contractors or employees depends on the facts in each case. The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the person paying for the work has the right to control or to direct only the result of the work and not how it will be done. The earnings of a person who is working as an independent contractor are subject to self-employment tax. For more information on determining whether you are an employee or independent contractor, see Pub. 15-A, Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide.

A statutory employee has a checkmark in box 13 of their Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Statutory employees use Schedule C to report their wages and expenses.

If you and your spouse jointly own and operate an unincorporated business and share in the profits and losses, you are partners in a partnership, whether or not you have a formal partnership agreement. Do not use Schedule C. Instead, file Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income. For more information, see Pub. 541, Partnerships.

Exception—Community income. If you and your spouse wholly own an unincorporated business as community property under the community property laws of a state, foreign country, or U.S. territory, you can treat the business either as a sole proprietorship or a partnership. States with community property laws include Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. A change in your reporting position will be treated as a conversion of the entity. See Pub. 555 for more information about community property laws.

Exception—Qualified joint venture (QJV). If you and your spouse each materially participate as the only members of a jointly owned and operated business, and you file a joint return for the tax year, you can make a joint election to be treated as a QJV instead of a partnership for the tax year. Making this election will allow you to avoid the complexity of Form 1065 but still give each spouse credit for social security earnings on which retirement benefits are based. For an explanation of "material participation," see the instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), line G.

To make this election, you must divide all items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit attributable to the business between you and your spouse in accordance with your respective interests in the venture. Each of you must file a separate Schedule C and a separate Schedule SE. For more information, see Qualified Joint Ventures in the Instructions for Schedule SE.

What you need to know. Table A provides a list of questions you need to answer to help you meet your federal tax obligations. After each question is the location in this publication where you will find the related discussion.

The IRS mission. Provide America's taxpayers top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.

Comments and suggestions. We welcome your comments about this publication and suggestions for future editions.You can send us comments through IRS.gov/FormComments . Or, you can write to the Internal Revenue Service, Tax Forms and Publications, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6526, Washington, DC 20224.Although we can’t respond individually to each comment received, we do appreciate your feedback and will consider your comments and suggestions as we revise our tax forms, instructions, and publications. Don’t send tax questions, tax returns, or payments to the above address.

Getting answers to your tax questions. If you have a tax question not answered by this publication or the How To Get Tax Help section at the end of this publication, go to the IRS Interactive Tax Assistant page at IRS.gov/Help/ITA where you can find topics by using the search feature or viewing the categories listed.

Getting tax forms, instructions, and publications. Go to IRS.gov/Forms to download current and prior-year forms, instructions, and publications.

Ordering tax forms, instructions, and publications. Go to IRS.gov/OrderForms to order current forms, instructions, and publications; call 800-829-3676 to order prior-year forms and instructions. The IRS will process your order for forms and publications as soon as possible. Don’t resubmit requests you’ve already sent us. You can get forms and publications faster online.

Table A. What You Need To Know About Federal Taxes

The following are some of the tax changes for 2023.

Maximum net earnings. The maximum net self-employment earnings subject to the social security part of the self-employment tax is $160,200 for 2023. There is no maximum limit on earnings subject to the Medicare part.

Standard mileage rate. For 2023, the standard mileage rate for the cost of operating your car, van, pickup, or panel truck for each mile of business use during 2023 increased to 65.5 cents a mile.For more information, see Car and Truck Expenses in chapter 8.

Redesigned Form 1040-SS. For 2023, Schedule(s) C and SE (Form 1040) are available to be filed with Form 1040-SS, if applicable. For additional information, see the Instructions for Form 1040-SS.

Bonus depreciation. The bonus depreciation deduction under section 168(k) begins its phaseout in 2023 with a reduction of the applicable limit from 100% to 80%.

Form 7205, Energy efficient commercial buildings deduction. This form and its separate instructions are used to claim the section 179D deduction for qualifying energy efficient commercial building expenses that are now reported on new line 27b of Schedule C (Form 1040). See Form 7205 and its instructions for more information.

Commercial clean vehicle credit. Businesses that buy a qualified commercial clean vehicle may qualify for a clean vehicle tax credit. See Form 8936 and its instructions for more information.

Business meal expense. The temporary 100% deduction for business meal expense has expired. The business meal deduction reverts back to the previous 50% allowable deduction beginning January 1, 2023. See Meals and lodging , later, for more information.

The following are some of the tax changes for 2024. For information on other changes, go to IRS.gov .

Maximum net earnings. The maximum net self-employment earnings subject to the social security part of the self-employment tax is $168,600 for 2024.

Standard mileage rate. For 2024, the standard mileage rate for the cost of operating your car, van, pickup, or panel truck for each mile of business use is 67 cents a mile.

Excess business loss limitation. Your loss from a trade or business may be limited. Use Form 461 to determine the amount of your excess business loss, if any. Your excess business loss will be included as income on line 8p of Schedule 1 (Form 1040) and treated as a net operating loss (NOL) that you must carry forward and deduct in a subsequent tax year.For more information about the excess business loss limitation, see Form 461 and its instructions.

Qualified paid sick leave and qualified paid family leave payroll tax credit. Generally, the credit for qualified sick and family leave wages, as enacted under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and amended and extended by the COVID-related Tax Relief Act of 2020, for leave taken after March 31, 2020, and before April 1, 2021, and the credit for qualified sick and family leave wages under sections 3131, 3132, and 3133 of the Internal Revenue Code, as enacted under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the ARP), for leave taken after March 31, 2021, and before October 1, 2021, have expired. However, employers that pay qualified sick and family leave wages in 2023 for leave taken after March 31, 2020, and before October 1, 2021, are eligible to claim a credit for qualified sick and family leave wages in the quarter of 2023 in which the qualified wages were paid. For more information, see Form 941, lines 11b, 11d, 13c, and 13e; and Form 944, lines 8b, 8d, 10d, and 10f. You must include the full amount (both the refundable and nonrefundable portions) of the credit for qualified sick and family leave wages in gross income on line 3 or 4, as applicable, for the tax year that includes the last day of any calendar quarter with respect to which a credit is allowed.

A credit is available only if the leave was taken after March 31, 2020, and before October 1, 2021, and only after the qualified leave wages were paid, which might, under certain circumstances, not occur until a quarter after September 30, 2021, including qualifying quarterly payments made during 2023. Accordingly, all lines related to qualified sick and family leave wages remain on the employment tax returns for 2023.

Reportable transactions. You must file Form 8886, Reportable Transaction Disclosure Statement, to report certain transactions. You may have to pay a penalty if you are required to file Form 8886 but do not do so. You may also have to pay interest and penalties on any reportable transaction understatements. Reportable transactions include:

Transactions the same as or substantially similar to tax avoidance transactions identified by the IRS;

Transactions offered to you under conditions of confidentiality for which you paid an advisor a minimum fee;

Transactions for which you have, or a related party has, contractual protection against disallowance of the tax benefits;

Transactions that result in losses of at least $2 million in any single tax year ($50,000 if from certain foreign currency transactions) or $4 million in any combination of tax years; and

Transactions the same as or substantially similar to one of the types of transactions the IRS has identified as a transaction of interest.

For more information, see the Instructions for Form 8886 or Abusive Tax Shelters and Transactions .

Small Business and Self-Employed (SB/SE) Tax Center. Do you need help with a tax issue or preparing your return, or do you need a free publication or form? The SB/SE Tax Center serves taxpayers who file Form 1040; Form 1040-SR; Schedule C, E, or F; or Form 2106, as well as small business taxpayers with assets under $10 million. For additional information, go to the SB/SE Tax Center at IRS.gov/Businesses/Small .

Gig Economy Tax Center. The gig (or on-demand, sharing, or access) economy refers to an area of activity where people earn income providing on-demand work, services, or goods. Go to IRS.gov/Gig to get more information about the tax consequences of participating in the gig economy.

The Internal Revenue Service is a proud partner with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) . Photographs of missing children selected by the Center may appear in this publication on pages that would otherwise be blank. You can help bring these children home by looking at the photographs and calling 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) if you recognize a child.

1. Filing and Paying Business Taxes

This chapter explains the business taxes you may have to pay and the forms you may have to file. It also discusses taxpayer identification numbers (TINs).

Table 1-1 lists the benefits of filing electronically.

Table 1-2 lists the federal taxes you may have to pay, their due dates, and the forms you use to report them.

Table 1-3 provides checklists that highlight the typical forms and schedules you may need to file if you ever go out of business.

Useful Items

Publication

505 Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax

583 Starting a Business and Keeping Records

Form (and Instructions)

461 Limitation on Business Losses

1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return

1040-SR U.S. Tax Return for Seniors

1040-ES Estimated Tax for Individuals

7205 Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings Deduction

Sch C (Form 1040) Profit or Loss From Business

Sch SE (Form 1040) Self-Employment Tax

See chapter 12 for information about getting publications and forms.

Identification Numbers

This section explains three types of TINs, who needs them, when to use them, and how to get them.

Generally, use your SSN as your TIN. You must put this number on each of your individual income tax forms, such as Form 1040 and its schedules.

To apply for an SSN, use Form SS-5 , Application for a Social Security Card. This form is available at Social Security Administration (SSA) offices or by calling 800-772-1213. It is also available from the SSA website at SSA.gov/forms/ss-5 .

The IRS will issue an ITIN if you are a nonresident or resident alien and you do not have and are not eligible to get an SSN. The ITIN will expire for any taxpayer who does not file a federal income tax return (or who is not included as a dependent on the return of another taxpayer) for 3 consecutive years. In general, if you need to obtain an ITIN, you must attach Form W-7 , Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, with your signed, original, completed tax return and any other required documentation and mail them to the address in the Instructions for Form W-7. Exceptions are covered in the instructions. If you must include another person's SSN on your return and that person does not have and cannot get an SSN, enter that person's ITIN. The application is also available in Spanish. The form is available at IRS.gov/FormW7 .

You must also have an EIN to use as a TIN if you do either of the following.

Pay wages to one or more employees.

File pension or excise tax returns.

If you must have an EIN, include it along with your SSN on your Schedule C as instructed.

You can apply for an EIN:

Online by clicking on the Employer ID Numbers (EINs) link at IRS.gov/EIN as long as the principal business location is in the United States or U.S. territories—the EIN is issued immediately once the application information is validated;

By telephone at 267-941-1099 (not a toll-free number) only if the principal business is located outside the United States or U.S. territories; or

By mailing or faxing Form SS-4 , Application for Employer Identification Number.

You may need to get a new EIN if either the form or the ownership of your business changes. For more information, see Pub. 1635, Understanding Your EIN.

In operating your business, you will probably make certain payments you must report on information returns. These payments are discussed under Information Returns , later in this chapter. You must give the recipient of these payments (the payee) a statement showing the total amount paid during the year. You must include the payee's identification number and your identification number on the returns and statements.

If you have employees, you must get an SSN from each of them. Record the name and SSN of each employee exactly as they are shown on the employee's social security card. If the employee's name is not correct as shown on the card, the employee should request a new card from the SSA. This may occur if the employee's name was changed due to marriage or divorce.

Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, is completed by each employee so the correct federal income tax can be withheld from their pay.

If your employee does not have an SSN, they should file Form SS-5 with the SSA.

If you make payments to someone who is not your employee and you must report the payments on an information return, get that person's SSN. If you must report payments to an organization, such as a corporation or partnership, you must get its EIN.

To get the payee's SSN or EIN, use Form W-9 , Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification.

A payee who does not provide you with an identification number may be subject to backup withholding. For information on backup withholding, see the Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9 and the General Instructions for Certain Information Returns.

This part explains whether you have to file an income tax return and when you file it. It also explains how you pay the tax.

You have to file an income tax return for 2023 if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. If your net earnings from self-employment were less than $400, you still have to file an income tax return if you meet any other filing requirement listed in the Instructions for Form 1040.

File your income tax return on Form 1040 or 1040-SR and attach Schedule C . Enter the net profit or loss from Schedule C on Schedule 1 (Form 1040). Use Schedule C to figure your net profit or loss from your business. If you operated more than one business as a sole proprietorship, you must attach a separate Schedule C for each business.

IRS e-file (Electronic Filing)

E-file logo

I.R.S. e-file logo

Summary: This is an illustration of the logo used to identify the I.R.S. e-file program.

Please click here for the text description of the image.

Using IRS e-file does not affect your chances of an IRS examination of your return.

You can file most commonly used business forms using IRS e-file . For more information, go to IRS.gov .

Paperless filing is easier than you think and it's available to most taxpayers who file electronically—including those first-time filers who were 16 or older at the end of 2023. If you file electronically using tax preparation software or a tax professional, you will sign your return using the Self-Select PIN (personal identification number) Method for IRS e-file . If you are married filing jointly, you and your spouse will each need to create a PIN and enter these PINs as your electronic signatures.

To create a PIN, you must know your adjusted gross income (AGI) from your originally filed 2022 income tax return (not from an amended return, Form 1040-X, or after receiving any math error notice from the IRS). You will also need to provide your date of birth (DOB). Make sure your DOB is accurate and matches the information on record with the SSA before you e-file . To do this, check your annual Social Security Statement.

With a Self-Select PIN, there is nothing to sign and nothing to mail—not even your Form(s) W-2. For more details on the Self-Select PIN Method, go to IRS.gov .

In most states, you can file an electronic state return simultaneously with your federal return. For more information, check with your state tax agency, tax professional, or IRS.gov .

You can have your refund check mailed to you, or you can have your refund deposited directly to your checking or savings account.

With IRS e-file , your refund will be issued in half the time as when filing on paper. Most refunds are issued in less than 21 days.

As with a paper return, you may not get all of your refund if you owe certain past-due amounts, such as federal tax, state tax, a student loan, or child support. You will be notified if the refund you claimed has been offset against your debts.

You can check the status of your refund if it has been at least 24 hours (4 weeks if you mailed a paper return) from the date you filed your return. Be sure to have a copy of your tax return available because you will need to know the filing status, the first SSN shown on the return, and the exact whole-dollar amount of the refund. To check on your refund, do one of the following.

Go to IRS.gov/Refunds .

Download the free IRS2Go app to your smart phone and use it to check your refund status.

Call 800-829-1954 for automated refund information, and follow the recorded instructions.

The IRS can’t issue refunds before mid-February 2024 for returns that claimed the earned income credit or the additional child tax credit. This applies to the entire refund, not just the portion associated with these credits.

If your return shows that you owe tax, you must pay it by the due date of your return (without regard to any extension to file) to avoid late-payment penalties and interest. For calendar year 2023, pay by April 15, 2024. You have many options for making your payment, including by scheduling an electronic funds withdrawal from your checking or savings account or by debit or credit card. For more information about your payment options, go to IRS.gov/Payments .

Using an Authorized IRS e-file Provider

Many tax professionals can electronically file paperless returns for their clients. You have two options.

You can prepare your return, take it to an authorized IRS e-file provider, and have the provider transmit it electronically to the IRS.

You can have an authorized IRS e-file provider prepare your return and transmit it for you electronically.

You will be asked to complete Form 8879, IRS e-file Signature Authorization, to authorize the provider to enter your self-selected PIN on your return.

Depending on the provider and the specific services requested, a fee may be charged. To find an authorized IRS e-file provider near you, go to IRS.gov/Efile/Providers .

Using Your Personal Computer

A computer with Internet access is all you need to file your tax return using IRS e-file . When you use your personal computer, you can e-file your return from your home any time of the day or night. Sign your return electronically using a self-selected PIN to complete the process. There is no signature form to submit or Forms W-2 to send in.

If your AGI was $79,000 or less in 2023, you can use free tax software to prepare and e-file your tax return.

This public-private partnership, between the IRS and tax software providers, makes approximately a dozen brand-name commercial software products and e-file available for free. Just go to IRS.gov/FreeFile for details. You can review each software provider's criteria for free usage or use an online tool to find which free software products match your situation. Some software providers offer state tax return preparation for free.

The IRS also offers electronic versions of IRS paper forms that can also be e-filed for free. Free File Fillable Forms is best for people experienced in preparing their own tax returns. There is no income limitation to using these forms. Free File Fillable Forms does basic math calculations. It supports only federal tax forms.

Some businesses offer free e-file to their employees, members, or customers. Others offer it for a fee. Ask your employer or financial institution if they offer IRS e-file as an employee, member, or customer benefit.

Free help in preparing your return is available nationwide from IRS-trained volunteers. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is designed to help low-income taxpayers, and the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program is designed to assist taxpayers age 60 or older with their tax returns. Some locations offer free electronic filing.

Table 1-1. Benefits of IRS e-file

For calendar year 2023, Form 1040 or 1040-SR is due by April 15, 2024. If you use a fiscal year (explained in chapter 2), your return is due by the 15th day of the 4th month after the end of your fiscal year. If you file late, you may have to pay penalties and interest.

If you cannot file your return on time, use Form 4868 , Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, to request an automatic 6-month extension. For calendar year taxpayers, this will extend the tax filing due date until October 15. Filing an extension does not extend the time to pay your taxes, only the time to file the tax return.

How Do I Pay Income Tax?

Federal income tax is a pay-as-you-go tax. You must pay it as you earn or receive income during the year. An employee usually has income tax withheld from their pay. If you do not pay your tax through withholding, or do not pay enough tax that way, you might have to pay estimated tax.

You generally have to make estimated tax payments if you expect to owe taxes, including self-employment tax (discussed later), of $1,000 or more when you file your return. Use Form 1040-ES to figure and pay the tax. If you do not have to make estimated tax payments, you can pay any tax due when you file your return. For more information on estimated tax, see Pub. 505.

You can pay your estimated tax electronically using various options. If you pay electronically, there is no need to mail in Form 1040-ES payment vouchers. These options include:

Paying electronically through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS),

Paying with Direct Pay by authorizing an electronic funds withdrawal when you file Form 1040 or 1040-SR electronically, or

Paying by credit or debit card over the phone or by Internet.

To enroll in EFTPS, go to EFTPS.gov or call 800-555-4477.

When you request a new EIN, you may be automatically enrolled in EFTPS.

Benefits of EFTPS include the following.

The chance of an error in making your payments is reduced.

You receive immediate confirmation of every transaction.

If you did not pay enough income tax and self-employment tax for 2023 by withholding or by making estimated tax payments, you may have to pay a penalty on the amount not paid. The IRS will figure the penalty for you and send you a bill. Or you can use Form 2210 , Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates, and Trusts, to see if you have to pay a penalty and to figure the penalty amount. For more information, see Pub. 505.

Self-Employment (SE) Tax

SE tax is a social security and Medicare tax primarily for individuals who work for themselves. It is similar to the social security and Medicare taxes withheld from the pay of most wage earners.

Social security benefits are available to self-employed persons just as they are to wage earners. Your payments of SE tax contribute to your coverage under the social security system. Social security coverage provides you with retirement benefits, disability benefits, survivor benefits, and hospital insurance (Medicare) benefits.

You must be insured under the social security system before you begin receiving social security benefits. You are insured if you have the required number of credits (also called quarters of coverage), discussed next.

For 2023, you received one credit, up to a maximum of four credits, for each $1,640 ($1,730 for 2024) of income subject to social security tax. Therefore, for 2023, if you had income (self-employment and wages) of $6,560 that was subject to social security tax, you received four credits ($6,560 ÷ $1,640).

For an explanation of the number of credits you must have to be insured and the benefits available to you and your family under the social security program, consult your nearest SSA office.

Generally, the SSA will give you credit only for self-employment income reported on a tax return filed within 3 years, 3 months, and 15 days after the tax year you earned the income. If you file your tax return or report a change in your self-employment income after this time limit, the SSA may change its record but only to remove or reduce the amount. The SSA will not change its records to increase your self-employment income.

You must pay SE tax and file Schedule SE (Form 1040) if either of the following applies.

Your net earnings from self-employment (excluding church employee income) were $400 or more.

You had church employee income of $108.28 or more.

The SE tax rate on net earnings is 15.3% (12.4% social security tax plus 2.9% Medicare tax).

Only the first $160,200 of your combined wages, tips, and net earnings in 2023 is subject to any combination of the 12.4% social security part of SE tax, social security tax, or the Tier 1 part of railroad retirement tax.

All your combined wages, tips, and net earnings in 2023 are subject to any combination of the 2.9% Medicare part of SE tax, Medicare tax, or Medicare part of railroad retirement tax.

If wages and tips you receive as an employee are subject to either social security tax or the Tier 1 part of railroad retirement tax, or both, and total at least $160,200, do not pay the 12.4% social security part of the SE tax on any of your net earnings. However, you must pay the 2.9% Medicare part of the SE tax on all your net earnings.

A 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax may apply to you if your net earnings from self-employment exceed one of the following threshold amounts (based on your filing status).

Married filing jointly—$250,000

Married filing separately—$125,000

Single, Head of household, or Qualifying surviving spouse—$200,000

If you have both wages and self-employment income, the threshold amount for applying the Additional Medicare Tax on the self-employment income is reduced (but not below zero) by the amount of wages subject to Additional Medicare Tax. Use Form 8959, Additional Medicare Tax, to figure this tax.

For information on methods of calculating SE tax, see chapter 10 .

Table 1-2. Which Forms Must I File?

If you have employees, you will need to file forms to report employment taxes. Employment taxes include the following items.

Social security and Medicare taxes.

Federal income tax withholding.

Federal unemployment tax (FUTA).

For more information, see Pub. 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide. That publication explains your tax responsibilities as an employer.

To help you determine whether the people working for you are your employees, see Pub. 15-A. That publication has information to help you determine whether an individual is an independent contractor or an employee.

An independent contractor is someone who is self-employed. You generally do not have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments made to an independent contractor.

Excise Taxes

This section identifies some of the excise taxes you may have to pay and the forms you have to file if you do any of the following.

Manufacture or sell certain products.

Operate certain kinds of businesses.

Use various kinds of equipment, facilities, or products.

Receive payment for certain services.

The federal excise taxes reported on Form 720, Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return, consist of several broad categories of taxes, including the following.

Environmental taxes on the sale or use of ozone-depleting chemicals and imported products containing or manufactured with these chemicals.

Communications and air transportation taxes.

Tax on the first retail sale of heavy trucks, trailers, and tractors.

Manufacturer’s taxes on the sale or use of a variety of different articles.

Tax on indoor tanning services.

There is a federal excise tax on the use of certain trucks, truck tractors, and buses on public highways. The tax applies to vehicles having a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more. Report the tax on Form 2290, Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return. For more information, see the Instructions for Form 2290.

If you have to file a quarterly excise tax return on Form 720, you may have to deposit your excise taxes before the return is due. For details on depositing excise taxes, see the Instructions for Form 720.

Information Returns

If you make or receive payments in your business, you may have to report them to the IRS on information returns. The IRS compares the payments shown on the information returns with each person's income tax return to see if the payments were included in income. You must give a copy of each information return you are required to file to the recipient or payer. In addition to the forms described below, you may have to use other returns to report certain kinds of payments or transactions. For more details on information returns and when you have to file them, see the General Instructions for Certain Information Returns.

Use Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information, to report certain payments you make in your business. These payments include the following items.

Rent payments of $600 or more, other than rents paid to real estate agents.

Prizes and awards of $600 or more that are not for services, such as winnings on TV or radio shows.

Royalty payments of $10 or more.

Payments to certain crew members by owners or operators of fishing boats.

Amounts paid for the purchase of fish for resale from any person engaged in the business of catching fish.

File Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation, for each person in the course of your business to whom you have paid at least $600 during the year in:

Services performed by someone who is not your employee (including parts and materials) (box 1),

Cash payments for fish (or other aquatic life) you purchase from anyone engaged in the trade or business of catching fish (box 1), or

Payments to an attorney (box 1).

You must also file Form 1099-NEC for each person from whom you have withheld any federal income tax (report in box 4) under the backup withholding rules regardless of the amount of the payment.

You must file Form W-2 to report payments to your employees, such as wages, tips, and other compensation; and withheld income, social security, and Medicare taxes. You can file Form W-2 online. For more information about Form W-2, see the General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3.

The law provides for the following penalties if you do not file Form(s) 1099-MISC, Form(s) 1099-NEC, or Form(s) W-2 or do not correctly report the information. For more information, see the General Instructions for Certain Information Returns.

Failure to file information returns. This penalty applies if you do not file information returns by the due date, do not include all required information, or report incorrect information.

Failure to furnish correct payee statements. This penalty applies if you do not furnish a required statement to a payee by the required date, do not include all required information, or report incorrect information.

These penalties will not apply if you can show that the failure was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect.

In addition, there is no penalty for failure to include all required information, or for including incorrect information, on a de minimis (small) number of information returns if you correct the errors by August 1 of the year the returns are due. (A de minimis number of returns is the greater of 10 or ½ of 1% of the total number of returns you are required to file for the year.)

You must file Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business, if you receive more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction, or two or more related business transactions. Cash includes U.S. and foreign coin and currency. It also includes certain monetary instruments such as cashier's and traveler's checks and money orders. Cash does not include a check drawn on an individual's personal account (personal check). For more information, see Pub. 1544, Reporting Cash Payments of Over $10,000.

There are civil and criminal penalties, including up to 5 years in prison, for not filing Form 8300, filing (or causing the filing of) a false or fraudulent Form 8300, or structuring a transaction to evade reporting requirements.

Table 1-3. Going Out of Business Checklists

2. accounting periods and methods.

You must figure your taxable income and file an income tax return for an annual accounting period called a tax year. Also, you must consistently use an accounting method that clearly shows your income and expenses for the tax year.

538 Accounting Periods and Methods

Accounting Periods

When preparing a statement of income and expenses (generally, your income tax return), you must use your books and records for a specific interval of time called an accounting period. The annual accounting period for your income tax return is called a tax year . You can use one of the following tax years.

A calendar tax year.

A fiscal tax year.

A calendar tax year is 12 consecutive months beginning January 1 and ending December 31.

You must adopt the calendar tax year if any of the following apply.

You do not keep books.

You have no annual accounting period.

Your present tax year does not qualify as a fiscal year.

Your use of the calendar tax year is required under the Internal Revenue Code or the Income Tax Regulations.

If you filed your first income tax return using the calendar tax year and you later begin business as a sole proprietor, you must continue to use the calendar tax year unless you get IRS approval to change it or are otherwise allowed to change it without IRS approval. For more information, see Change in tax year , later.

If you adopt the calendar tax year, you must maintain your books and records and report your income and expenses for the period from January 1 through December 31 of each year.

A fiscal tax year is 12 consecutive months ending on the last day of any month except December. A 52-53-week tax year is a fiscal tax year that varies from 52 to 53 weeks but does not have to end on the last day of a month.

If you adopt a fiscal tax year, you must maintain your books and records and report your income and expenses using the same tax year.

For more information on a fiscal tax year, including a 52-53-week tax year, see Pub. 538.

Generally, you must file Form 1128 , Application To Adopt, Change, or Retain a Tax Year, to request IRS approval to change your tax year. See the Instructions for Form 1128 for exceptions. If you qualify for an automatic approval request, a user fee is not required. If you do not qualify for automatic approval, a ruling must be requested. See the Instructions for Form 1128 for information about user fees if you are requesting a ruling.

Accounting Methods

An accounting method is a set of rules used to determine when and how income and expenses are reported. Your accounting method includes not only the overall method of accounting you use, but also the accounting treatment you use for any material item.

You choose an accounting method for your business when you file your first income tax return that includes a Schedule C for the business. After that, if you want to change your accounting method, you must generally get IRS approval. See Change in Accounting Method , later.

Generally, you can use any of the following accounting methods.

An accrual method.

Special methods of accounting for certain items of income and expenses.

Combination method using elements of two or more of the above.

You must use the same accounting method to figure your taxable income and to keep your books. Also, you must use an accounting method that clearly shows your income.

You can account for business and personal items under different accounting methods. For example, you can figure your business income under an accrual method, even if you use the cash method to figure personal items.

If you have two or more separate and distinct businesses, you can use a different accounting method for each if the method clearly reflects the income of each business. They are separate and distinct only if you maintain complete and separate books and records for each business.

Cash Method

Most individuals and many sole proprietors with no inventory use the cash method because they find it easier to keep cash method records. However, if an inventory is necessary to account for your income, you must generally use an accrual method of accounting for sales and purchases, unless you are a small business taxpayer (defined later in this chapter). For more information, see Inventories , later.

Under the cash method, include in your gross income all items of income you actually or constructively receive during your tax year. If you receive property or services, you must include their fair market value in income.

On December 30, 2022, a client sent you a check for interior decorating services you provided to them. You received the check on January 4, 2023. You must include the amount of the check in income for 2023.

You have constructive receipt of income when an amount is credited to your account or made available to you without restriction. You do not need to have possession of it. If you authorize someone to be your agent and receive income for you, you are treated as having received it when your agent received it.

Interest is credited to your bank account in December 2023. You do not withdraw it or enter it into your passbook until 2024. You must include it in your gross income for 2023.

You cannot hold checks or postpone taking possession of similar property from one tax year to another to avoid paying tax on the income. You must report the income in the year the property is received or made available to you without restriction.

A service contractor was entitled to receive a $10,000 payment on a contract in December 2023. They were told in December that their payment was available. At their request, they were not paid until January 2024. They must include this payment in their 2023 income because it was constructively received in 2023.

Receipt of a valid check by the end of the tax year is constructive receipt of income in that year, even if you cannot cash or deposit the check until the following year.

You received a check for $500 on December 30, 2023, from a client. You could not deposit the check in your business account until January 3, 2024. You must include this fee in income for 2023.

If your debts are paid by another person or are canceled by your creditors, you may have to report part or all of this debt relief as income. If you receive income in this way, you constructively receive the income when the debt is canceled or paid. For more information, see Canceled Debt under Kinds of Income in chapter 5.

If you include an amount in income and in a later year you have to repay all or part of it, you can usually deduct the repayment in the year in which you make it. If the amount you repay is over $3,000, a special rule applies. For details about the special rule, see Repayments in chapter 8 of Pub. 17.

Under the cash method, you generally deduct expenses in the tax year in which you actually pay them. This includes business expenses for which you contest liability. However, you may not be able to deduct an expense paid in advance or you may be required to capitalize certain costs, as explained later under Uniform Capitalization Rules .

You can deduct an expense you pay in advance only in the year to which it applies.

You are a calendar year taxpayer and you pay $1,000 in 2023 for a business insurance policy effective for 1 year, beginning July 1. You can deduct $500 in 2023 and $500 in 2024.

Accrual Method

Under an accrual method of accounting, you generally report income in the year earned and deduct or capitalize expenses in the year incurred. The purpose of an accrual method of accounting is to match income and expenses in the correct year.

Under an accrual method, you generally include an amount in your gross income for the tax year in which all events that fix your right to receive the income have occurred and you can determine the amount with reasonable accuracy. For a taxpayer with an applicable financial statement or other financial statement as the Secretary may specify, the all-events test for an item of gross income is considered met no later than when taken into account in an applicable financial statement or such other financial statement.

You are a calendar year accrual method taxpayer. You sold a computer on December 28, 2023. You billed the customer in the first week of January 2024, but you did not receive payment until February 2024. You must include the amount received for the computer in your 2023 income.

Income—Special Rules

The following are special rules that apply to advance payments, estimating income, and changing a payment schedule for services.

If you include a reasonably estimated amount in gross income, and later determine the exact amount is different, take the difference into account in the tax year in which you make the determination.

If you perform services for a basic rate specified in a contract, you must accrue the income at the basic rate, even if you agree to receive payments at a lower rate until you complete the services and then receive the difference.

Generally, you report an advance payment as income in the year you receive the payment. However, if you receive an advance payment, you can elect to postpone including the advance payment in income until the next tax year. You cannot postpone including any payment beyond that tax year.

For more information, see Pub. 538 and section 451.

Under an accrual method of accounting, you generally deduct or capitalize a business expense when both the following apply.

The all-events test has been met. The test has been met when:

All events have occurred that fix the fact of liability, and

The liability can be determined with reasonable accuracy.

Economic performance has occurred.

You generally cannot deduct or capitalize a business expense until economic performance occurs. If your expense is for property or services provided to you, or for your use of property, economic performance occurs as the property or services are provided or as the property is used. If your expense is for property or services you provide to others, economic performance occurs as you provide the property or services. An exception allows certain recurring items to be treated as incurred during a tax year even though economic performance has not occurred. For more information on economic performance, see Economic Performance under Accrual Method in Pub. 538.

You are a calendar year taxpayer and use an accrual method of accounting. You buy office supplies in December 2023. You receive the supplies and the bill in December, but you pay the bill in January 2024. You can deduct the expense in 2023 because all events that fix the fact of liability have occurred, the amount of the liability could be reasonably determined, and economic performance occurred in that year.

Your office supplies may qualify as a recurring expense. In that case, you can deduct them in 2023 even if the supplies are not delivered until 2024 (when economic performance occurs).

When the production, purchase, or sale of merchandise is an income-producing factor in your business, you must generally take inventories into account at the beginning and the end of your tax year, unless you are a small business taxpayer. If you must account for an inventory, you must generally use an accrual method of accounting for your purchases and sales. For more information, see Inventories , later.

You cannot deduct business expenses and interest owed to a related person who uses the cash method of accounting until you make the payment and the corresponding amount is includible in the related person's gross income. Determine the relationship, for this rule, as of the end of the tax year for which the expense or interest would otherwise be deductible. If a deduction is not allowed under this rule, the rule will continue to apply even if your relationship with the person ends before the expense or interest is includible in the gross income of that person.

Related persons include members of your immediate family, including siblings (either whole or half), your spouse, ancestors, and lineal descendants. For a list of other related persons, see section 267 of the Internal Revenue Code.

You can generally use any combination of cash, accrual, and special methods of accounting if the combination clearly shows your income and expenses and you use it consistently. However, the following restrictions apply.

If an inventory is necessary to account for your income, you must generally use an accrual method for purchases and sales. (See, however, Inventories , later.) You can use the cash method for all other items of income and expenses.

If you use the cash method for figuring your income, you must use the cash method for reporting your expenses.

If you use an accrual method for reporting your expenses, you must use an accrual method for figuring your income.

If you use a combination method that includes the cash method, treat that combination method as the cash method.

Inventories

Generally, if you produce, purchase, or sell merchandise in your business, you must keep an inventory and use an accrual method for purchases and sales of merchandise.

If you are a small business taxpayer, you can choose not to keep an inventory, but you must still use a method of accounting for inventory that clearly reflects income. If you choose not to keep an inventory, you won’t be treated as failing to clearly reflect income if your method of accounting for inventory treats inventory as non-incidental material or supplies, or conforms to your financial accounting treatment of inventories. If, however, you choose to keep an inventory, you must generally use an accrual method of accounting and value the inventory each year to determine your cost of goods sold in Part III of Schedule C.

You qualify as a small business taxpayer if you (a) have average annual gross receipts of $29 million or less for the 3 prior tax years, and (b) are not a tax shelter (as defined in section 448(d)(3)). If your business has not been in existence for all of the 3-tax-year period used in figuring average gross receipts, base your average on the period it has existed, and if your business has a predecessor entity, include the gross receipts of the predecessor entity from the 3-tax-year period when figuring average gross receipts. If your business (or predecessor entity) had short tax years for any of the 3-tax-year period, annualize your business’ gross receipts for the short tax years that are part of the 3-tax-year period. See Pub. 538 for more information.

If you account for inventories as materials and supplies that are not incidental, you deduct the amounts paid or incurred to acquire or produce the inventoriable items treated as non-incidental materials and supplies in the year in which they are first used or consumed in your operations. Inventory treated as non-incidental materials and supplies is used or consumed in your business in the year you provide the inventory to your customers.

Your financial accounting treatment of inventories is determined with regard to the method of accounting you use in your applicable financial statement (as defined in section 451(b)(3)) or, if you do not have an applicable financial statement, with regard to the method of accounting you use in your books and records that have been prepared in accordance with your accounting procedures.

If you want to change your method of accounting for inventory, you must file Form 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method. See Change in Accounting Method , later.

If you are required to account for inventories, include the following items when accounting for your inventory.

Merchandise or stock in trade.

Raw materials.

Work in process.

Finished products.

Supplies that physically become a part of the item intended for sale.

You must value your inventory at the beginning and end of each tax year to determine your cost of goods sold (Schedule C, line 42). To determine the value of your inventory, you need a method for identifying the items in your inventory and a method for valuing these items.

Inventory valuation rules cannot be the same for all kinds of businesses. The method you use to value your inventory must conform to generally accepted accounting principles for similar businesses and must clearly reflect income. Your inventory practices must be consistent from year to year.

For more information about inventories, see Pub. 538.

Uniform Capitalization Rules

Under the uniform capitalization rules, you must capitalize the direct costs and part of the indirect costs for production or resale activities. Include these costs in the basis of property you produce or acquire for resale, rather than claiming them as a current deduction. You recover the costs through depreciation, amortization, or cost of goods sold when you use, sell, or otherwise dispose of the property.

You may be subject to the uniform capitalization rules if you do any of the following, unless the property is produced for your use other than in a business or an activity carried on for profit.

Produce real or tangible personal property. For this purpose, tangible personal property includes a film, sound recording, videotape, book, or similar property.

Acquire property for resale.

These rules do not apply to the following.

Small business taxpayers , defined earlier under Inventories .

Property you produce if your indirect costs of producing the property are $200,000 or less.

There are special methods of accounting for certain items of income or expense. These include the following.

Amortization, discussed in chapter 7 of Pub. 225.

Bad debts, discussed under Topic No. 453, Bad Debt Deduction .

Depletion, discussed in chapter 7 of Pub. 225.

Depreciation, discussed in Pub. 946, How To Depreciate Property.

Installment sales, discussed in Pub. 537, Installment Sales.

Long-term contract methods of accounting. See section 460.

Change in Accounting Method

Once you have set up your accounting method, you must generally get IRS approval before you can change to another method. A change in your accounting method includes a change in:

Your overall method, such as from cash to an accrual method; and

Your treatment of any material item.

Certain taxpayers can presume to have IRS approval to change their method of accounting. The approval is granted for the tax year for which the taxpayer requests a change (year of change), if the taxpayer complies with the provisions of the automatic change procedures. No user fee is required for an application filed under an automatic change procedure generally covered in Revenue Procedure 2015-13, 2015-5 I.R.B. 419, which is available at IRS.gov/IRB/2015-05_IRB#RP-2015-13 (or its successor).

Generally, you must use Form 3115 to request an automatic change. For more information, see the Instructions for Form 3115.

3. Dispositions of Business Property

If you dispose of business property, you may have a gain or loss that you report on your tax return. However, in some cases, you may have a gain that is not taxable or a loss that is not deductible. This chapter discusses whether you have a disposition, how to figure the gain or loss, and where to report the gain or loss.

544 Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets

4797 Sales of Business Property

Sch D (Form 1040) Capital Gains and Losses

What Is a Disposition of Property?

A disposition of property includes the following transactions.

You sell property for cash or other property.

You exchange property for other property.

You receive money as a tenant for the cancellation of a lease.

You receive money for granting the exclusive use of a copyright throughout its life in a particular medium.

You transfer property to satisfy a debt.

You abandon property.

Your bank or other financial institution forecloses on your mortgage or repossesses your property.

Your property is damaged, destroyed, or stolen, and you receive property or money in payment.

Your property is condemned, or disposed of under the threat of condemnation, and you receive property or money in payment.

You give property away.

Certain exchanges of property are not taxable. This means any gain from the exchange is not recognized and you cannot deduct any loss. Your gain or loss will not be recognized until you sell or otherwise dispose of the property you receive.

A like-kind exchange is the exchange of property for other like-kind property. It is the most common type of nontaxable exchange. To be a like-kind exchange, the property traded and the property received must be both (a) real property, and (b) business or investment property.

Report the exchange of like-kind property on Form 8824, Like-Kind Exchanges. For more information about like-kind exchanges, see chapter 1 of Pub. 544.

An installment sale is a sale of property where you receive at least one payment after the tax year of the sale. If you finance the buyer's purchase of your property, instead of having the buyer get a loan or mortgage from a third party, you probably have an installment sale.

For more information about installment sales, see Pub. 537.

The sale of a business is usually not a sale of one asset. Instead, all the assets of the business are sold. Generally, when this occurs, each asset is treated as being sold separately for determining the treatment of gain or loss.

Both the buyer and seller involved in the sale of a business must report to the IRS the allocation of the sales price among the business assets. Use Form 8594 , Asset Acquisition Statement Under Section 1060, to provide this information. The buyer and seller should each attach Form 8594 to their federal income tax return for the year in which the sale occurred.

For more information about the sale of a business, see Pub. 544.

How Do I Figure a Gain or Loss?

Table 3-1. How To Figure a Gain or Loss

Basis, adjusted basis, amount realized, fair market value, and amount recognized are defined next. You need to know these definitions to figure your gain or loss.

The cost or purchase price of property is usually its basis for figuring the gain or loss from its sale or other disposition. However, if you acquired the property by gift, by inheritance, or in some way other than buying it, you must use a basis other than its cost. For more information about basis, see Pub. 551, Basis of Assets.

The adjusted basis of property generally is your original cost or other basis plus certain additions, and minus certain deductions such as depreciation and casualty losses. In determining gain or loss, the costs of transferring property to a new owner, such as selling expenses, are added to the adjusted basis of the property.

Generally, the amount you realize from a disposition is the total of all money you receive plus the fair market value of all property or services you receive. The amount you realize also includes any of your liabilities that were assumed by the buyer and any liabilities to which the property you transferred is subject, such as real estate taxes or a mortgage.

Fair market value is the price at which the property would change hands between a buyer and a seller, neither having to buy or sell, and both having reasonable knowledge of all necessary facts.

Your gain or loss realized from a disposition of property is usually a recognized gain or loss for tax purposes. Recognized gains must be included in gross income. Recognized losses are deductible from gross income. However, a gain or loss realized from certain exchanges of property is not recognized. See Nontaxable exchanges , earlier. Also, you cannot deduct a loss from the disposition of property held for personal use.

You must classify your gains and losses as either ordinary or capital gains or losses. You must do this to figure your net capital gain or loss. Generally, you will have a capital gain or loss if you dispose of a capital asset. For the most part, everything you own and use for personal purposes or investment is a capital asset.

Certain property you use in your business is not a capital asset. A gain or loss from a disposition of this property is an ordinary gain or loss. However, if you held the property longer than 1 year, you may be able to treat the gain or loss as a capital gain or loss. These gains and losses are called section 1231 gains and losses.

For more information about ordinary and capital gains and losses, see chapters 2 and 3 of Pub. 544.

If you have a capital gain or loss, you must determine whether it is long term or short term. Whether a gain or loss is long or short term depends on how long you own the property before you dispose of it. The time you own property before disposing of it is called the holding period.

Table 3-2. Do I Have a Short-Term or Long-Term Gain or Loss?

For more information about short-term and long-term capital gains and losses, see chapter 4 of Pub. 544.

Where Do I Report Gains and Losses?

Report gains and losses from the following dispositions on the forms indicated. The instructions for the forms explain how to fill them out.

Use Form 4797 . If you have taxable gain, you may also have to use Schedule D (Form 1040).

Use Form 8824 . You may also have to use Form 4797 and Schedule D (Form 1040).

Use Form 6252 , Installment Sale Income. You may also have to use Form 4797 and Schedule D (Form 1040).

Use Form 4684 , Casualties and Thefts. You may also have to use Form 4797.

Use Form 4797 . You may also have to use Schedule D (Form 1040).

4. General Business Credits

Your general business credit for the year consists of your carryforward of business credits from prior years plus the total of your current year business credits. In addition, your general business credit for the current year may be increased later by the carryback of business credits from later years. You subtract this credit directly from your tax.

3800 General Business Credit

6251 Alternative Minimum Tax—Individuals

Business Credits

All of the following credits are part of the general business credit. The form you use to figure each credit is shown in parentheses. You will also have to complete Form 3800.

Some credits have expiration dates. Check the instructions for each credit to make sure it is available for 2023.

This credit applies to the cost of any qualified fuel vehicle refueling property. For more information, see Form 8911.

For more information, see Form 8864.

For more information, see Form 6478.

This credit is for carbon oxide that is captured at a qualified facility and disposed of in secure geological storage or used in a qualified enhanced oil or natural gas recovery project. For more information, see Form 8933.

This credit is generally equal to your (employer's) portion of social security and Medicare taxes paid on tips received by employees of your food and beverage establishment where tipping is customary. The credit applies regardless of whether the food is consumed on or off your business premises. For more information, see Form 8846.

This credit provides businesses with an incentive to continue to pay wages to an employee performing services on active duty in the uniformed services of the United States for a period of more than 30 days. For more information, see Form 8932.

This credit applies to the qualified expenses you paid for employee childcare and qualified expenses you paid for childcare resource and referral services. For more information, see Form 8882.

This credit is designed to encourage businesses to increase the amounts they spend on research and experimental activities, including energy research. For more information, see Form 6765.

This credit applies to the cost of certain health insurance coverage you provide to certain employees. For more information, see Form 8941.

This credit applies to pension plan startup costs of a new qualified defined benefit or defined contribution plan (including a section 401(k) plan), SIMPLE plan, or SEP plan. For more information, see Pub. 560, Retirement Plans for Small Business.

This credit is a nonrefundable tax credit for an eligible small business that pays or incurs expenses to provide access to persons who have disabilities. You must pay or incur the expenses to enable your business to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. For more information, see Form 8826.

This credit is available to distillers and importers of distilled spirits and eligible wholesalers of distilled spirits. For more information, see Form 8906.

This credit applies for wages paid to qualifying employees while they are on family and medical leave, subject to certain conditions. For more information, see Form 8994.

You may qualify for this credit if you have employees and are engaged in a business in an empowerment zone for which the credit is available. For more information, see Form 8844.

This credit is available for eligible contractors of certain homes sold for use as a residence. For more information, see Form 8908.

The investment credit is the total of the several credits. For more information, see Form 3468.

For more information, see Form 8896.

This credit generally applies to each qualified low-income building placed in service after 1986. For more information, see Form 8586.

This credit is for qualified equity investments made in qualified community development entities. For more information, see Form 8874.

This credit applies to qualified expenses incurred in testing certain drugs for rare diseases and conditions. For more information, see Form 8820.

These credits are for certain clean vehicles placed in service during the tax year. For more information, see Form 8936.

This credit applies to qualified railroad track maintenance expenditures paid or incurred during the tax year. For more information, see Form 8900.

This credit is for renewable energy sources produced in the United States or U.S. territories from qualified energy resources at a qualified facility. For more information, see Form 8835.

This credit provides businesses with an incentive to hire individuals from targeted groups that have a particularly high unemployment rate or other special employment needs. For more information, see Form 5884.

To claim a general business credit, you will first have to get the forms you need to claim your current year business credits.

In addition to the credit form, you also need to file Form 3800.

5. Business Income

This chapter primarily explains business income and how to account for it on your tax return and what items are not considered income, and it gives guidelines for selected occupations.

If there is a connection between any income you receive and your business, the income is business income. A connection exists if it is clear that the payment of income would not have been made if you did not have the business.

You can have business income even if you are not involved in the activity on a regular full-time basis. Income from work you do on the side in addition to your regular job can be business income. For example, you may be in the business of providing services for a ride-sharing business as a second job.

You report most business income, such as income from selling your products or services, on Schedule C. But you report the income from the sale of business assets, such as land and office buildings, on other forms instead of Schedule C. For information on selling business assets, see chapter 3 .

Business income includes amounts you received in your business that were properly shown on Forms 1099-NEC. This includes amounts reported as nonemployee compensation in box 1 of the form. You can find more information in the instructions on the back of the Form 1099-NEC you received.

If you are in a business, you may receive a Form 1099-K representing the total dollar amount of total reportable payment transactions. This may not be the amount you should report as income, as it may not include all the receipts and it may include items that are not included in your receipts (such as sales tax).

Income you report on Schedule C may be qualified business income and entitle you to a deduction on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 13. See Form 8995-A or Form 8995 to figure your deduction, if any.

Kinds of Income

You must report on your tax return all income you receive from your business unless it is excluded by law. In most cases, your business income will be in the form of cash, checks, and credit card charges. But business income can be in other forms, such as property or services. These and other types of income are explained next.

Bartering for Property or Services

Bartering is an exchange of property or services. You must include in your gross receipts, at the time received, the fair market value of property or services you receive in exchange for something else. If you exchange services with another person and you both have agreed ahead of time on the value of the services, that value will be accepted as the fair market value unless the value can be shown to be otherwise.

You are a self-employed lawyer. You perform legal services for a client, a small corporation. In payment for your services, you receive shares of stock in the corporation. You must include the fair market value of the shares in income.

You are an artist and create a work of art to compensate your landlord for the rent-free use of your apartment. You must include the fair rental value of the apartment in your gross receipts. Your landlord must include the fair market value of the work of art in their rental income.

You are a self-employed accountant. Both you and a house painter are members of a barter club, an organization that each year gives its members a directory of members and the services each member provides. Members get in touch with other members directly and bargain for the value of the services to be performed.

In return for accounting services you provided for the house painter's business, the house painter painted your home. You must include in gross receipts the fair market value of the services you received from the house painter. The house painter must include the fair market value of your accounting services in their gross receipts.

You are a member of a barter club that uses credit units to credit or debit members' accounts for goods or services provided or received. As soon as units are credited to your account, you can use them to buy goods or services or sell or transfer the units to other members.

You must include the value of credit units you received in your gross receipts for the tax year in which the units are credited to your account.

The dollar value of units received for services by an employee of the club, who can use the units in the same manner as other members, must be included in the employee's gross income for the tax year in which received. It is wages subject to social security and Medicare taxes (FICA), FUTA taxes, and income tax withholding. See Pub. 15.

You operate a plumbing business and use the cash method of accounting. You join a barter club and agree to provide plumbing services to any member for a specified number of hours. Each member has access to a directory that lists the members of the club and the services available.

Members contact each other directly and request services to be performed. You are not required to provide services unless requested by another member, but you can use as many of the offered services as you wish without paying a fee.

You must include the fair market value of any services you receive from club members in your gross receipts when you receive them even if you have not provided any services to club members.

If you are involved in a bartering transaction, you may have to file either of the following forms.

Form 1099-B, Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions.

Real Estate Rents

If you are a real estate dealer who receives income from renting real property or an owner of a hotel, motel, etc., who provides services (maid services, etc.) for guests, report the rental income and expenses on Schedule C. If you are not a real estate dealer or the kind of owner described in the preceding sentence, report the rental income and expenses on Schedule E. For more information, see Pub. 527, Residential Rental Property.

You are a real estate dealer if you are engaged in the business of selling real estate to customers with the purpose of making a profit from those sales. Rent you receive from real estate held for sale to customers is subject to SE tax. However, rent you receive from real estate held for speculation or investment is not subject to SE tax.

Rental income from a trailer park is subject to SE tax if you are a self-employed trailer park owner who provides trailer lots and facilities and substantial services for the convenience of your tenants.

You are generally considered to provide substantial services for tenants if they are primarily for the tenants' convenience and are not normally provided to maintain the lots in a condition for occupancy. Services are substantial if the compensation for the services makes up a material part of the tenants' rental payments.

Examples of services that are not normally provided for the tenants' convenience include supervising and maintaining a recreational hall provided by the park, distributing a monthly newsletter to tenants, operating a laundry facility, and helping tenants buy or sell their trailers.

Examples of services that are normally provided to maintain the lots in a condition for tenant occupancy include city sewerage, electrical connections, and roadways.

Rental income you receive for the use or occupancy of hotels, boarding houses, or apartment houses is subject to SE tax if you provide services for the occupants.

Generally, you are considered to provide services for the occupants if the services are primarily for their convenience and are not services normally provided with the rental of rooms for occupancy only. An example of a service that is not normally provided for the convenience of the occupants is maid service. However, providing heat and light, cleaning stairways and lobbies, and collecting trash are services normally provided for the occupants' convenience.

Advance payments received under a lease that does not put any restriction on their use or enjoyment are income in the year you receive them. This is generally true no matter what accounting method or period you use.

A bonus you receive from a lessee for granting a lease is an addition to the rent. Include it in your gross receipts in the year received.

Report payments you receive from your lessee for canceling a lease in your gross receipts in the year received.

If your lessee makes payments to someone else under an agreement to pay your debts or obligations, include the payments in your gross receipts when the lessee makes the payments. A common example of this kind of income is a lessee's payment of your property taxes on leased real property.

Payments you receive in settlement of a lessee's obligation to restore the leased property to its original condition are income in the amount that the payments exceed the adjusted basis of the leasehold improvements destroyed, damaged, removed, or disconnected by the lessee.

If you are in the business of renting personal property (equipment, vehicles, formal wear, etc.), include the rental amount you receive in your gross receipts on Schedule C. Prepaid rent and other payments described under Real Estate Rents , earlier, can also be received for renting personal property. If you receive any of those payments, include them in your gross receipts as explained in that discussion.

Interest and Dividend Income

Interest and dividends may be considered business income.

Interest received on notes receivable that you have accepted in the ordinary course of business is business income. Interest received on loans is business income if you are in the business of lending money.

If a loan payable to you becomes uncollectible during the tax year and you use an accrual method of accounting, you generally must include in gross income qualified stated interest accrued up to the time the loan became uncollectible. If the accrued interest that you previously included later becomes uncollectible, you may be able to take a bad debt deduction. See Bad Debts in chapter 8.

If little or no interest is charged on an installment sale contract, you may have to treat a part of each payment as unstated interest. See Unstated Interest and Original Issue Discount (OID) in Pub. 537.

Generally, dividends are business income to dealers in securities. For most sole proprietors and statutory employees, however, dividends are nonbusiness income. If you hold stock as a personal investment separately from your business activity, the dividends from the stock are nonbusiness income.

If you receive dividends from business insurance premiums you deducted in an earlier year, you must report all or part of the dividend as business income on your return. To find out how much you have to report, see Recovery of items previously deducted under Other Income , later.

Canceled Debt

The following explain the general rule for including canceled debt in income and the exceptions to the general rule.

Generally, if your debt is canceled or forgiven, other than as a gift or bequest to you, you must include the canceled amount in your gross income for tax purposes. Report the canceled amount on line 6 of Schedule C if you incurred the debt in your business. If the debt is a nonbusiness debt, report the canceled amount on line 8c of Schedule 1 (Form 1040).

The following discussion covers some exceptions to the general rule for canceled debt.

If you owe a debt to the seller for property you bought and the seller reduces the amount you owe, you generally do not have income from the reduction. Unless you are bankrupt or insolvent, treat the amount of the reduction as a purchase price adjustment and reduce your basis in the property.

You do not realize income from a canceled debt to the extent the payment of the debt would have led to a deduction.

You get accounting services for your business on credit. Later, you have trouble paying your business debts, but you are not bankrupt or insolvent. Your accountant forgives part of the amount you owe for the accounting services. How you treat the canceled debt depends on your method of accounting.

Cash method—You do not include the canceled debt in income because payment of the debt would have been deductible as a business expense.

Accrual method—You include the canceled debt in income because the expense was deductible when you incurred the debt.

For information on the cash and accrual methods of accounting, see chapter 2 .

Do not include canceled debt in income in the following situations. However, you may be required to file Form 982 , Reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness. For more information, see Form 982.

The cancellation takes place in a bankruptcy case under title 11 of the U.S. Code (relating to bankruptcy). See Pub. 908, Bankruptcy Tax Guide.

The cancellation takes place when you are insolvent. You can exclude the canceled debt to the extent you are insolvent. See Pub. 4681, Canceled Debts, Foreclosures, Repossessions, and Abandonments.

The canceled debt is a qualified farm debt owed to a qualified person. See chapter 3 of Pub. 225, Farmer's Tax Guide.

The canceled debt is a qualified real property business debt. This situation is explained later.

The canceled debt is qualified principal residence indebtedness which is discharged after 2006. See the Instructions for Form 982 for more information about this exclusion.

For purposes of this discussion, debt includes any debt for which you are liable or which attaches to property you hold.

You can elect to exclude (up to certain limits) the cancellation of qualified real property business debt. If you make the election, you must reduce the basis of your depreciable real property by the amount excluded. Make this reduction at the beginning of your tax year following the tax year in which the cancellation occurs. However, if you dispose of the property before that time, you must reduce its basis immediately before the disposition.

Qualified real property business debt is debt (other than qualified farm debt) that meets all the following conditions.

It was incurred or assumed in connection with real property used in a trade or business. Real property used in a trade or business does not include real property developed and held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business.

It was secured by such real property.

It was incurred or assumed at either of the following times.

Before January 1, 1993.

After December 31, 1992, if incurred or assumed to acquire, construct, or substantially improve the real property.

It is debt to which you choose to apply these rules.

Qualified real property business debt includes refinancing of debt described in (3) above, but only to the extent it does not exceed the debt being refinanced.

You cannot exclude more than either of the following amounts.

The excess (if any) of:

The outstanding principal of qualified real property business debt (immediately before the cancellation); over

The fair market value (immediately before the cancellation) of the business real property that is security for the debt, reduced by the outstanding principal amount of any other qualified real property business debt secured by this property immediately before the cancellation.

The total adjusted bases of depreciable real property held by you immediately before the cancellation. These adjusted bases are determined after any basis reduction due to a cancellation in bankruptcy or insolvency, or of qualified farm debt. Do not take into account depreciable real property acquired in contemplation of the cancellation.

To make this election, complete Form 982 and attach it to your income tax return for the tax year in which the cancellation occurs. You must file your return by the due date (including extensions). If you timely filed your return for the year without making the election, you can still make the election by filing an amended return within 6 months of the due date of the return (excluding extensions). For more information, see When To File in the form instructions.

Other Income

The following discussion explains how to treat other types of business income you may receive.

Restricted property is property that has certain restrictions that affect its value. If you receive restricted stock or other property for services performed, the fair market value of the property in excess of your cost is included in your income on Schedule C when the restriction is lifted. However, you can choose to be taxed in the year you receive the property. For more information on including restricted property in income, see Pub. 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income.

Do not report on Schedule C a gain or loss from the disposition of property that is neither stock in trade nor held primarily for sale to customers. Instead, you must report these gains and losses on other forms. For more information, see chapter 3 .

Report promissory notes and other evidences of debt issued to you in a sale or exchange of property that is stock in trade or held primarily for sale to customers on Schedule C. In general, you report them at their stated principal amount (minus any unstated interest) or issue price (for debt instruments with OID) when you receive them.

If you reduce or stop your business activities, report on Schedule C any payment you receive for the lost income of your business from insurance or other sources. Report it on Schedule C even if your business is inactive when you receive the payment.

You must include in gross income compensation you receive during the tax year as a result of any of the following injuries connected with your business.

Patent infringement.

Breach of contract or fiduciary duty.

Antitrust injury.

You may be entitled to a deduction against the income if it compensates you for actual economic injury. Your deduction is the smaller of the following amounts.

The amount you receive or accrue for damages in the tax year reduced by the amount you pay or incur in the tax year to recover that amount.

Your loss from the injury that you have not yet deducted.

You must also include punitive damages in income.

If you receive any kickbacks, include them in your income on Schedule C. However, do not include them if you properly treat them as a reduction of a related expense item, a capital expenditure, or cost of goods sold.

If you recover a bad debt or any other item deducted in a previous year, include the recovery in income on Schedule C. However, if all or part of the deduction in earlier years did not reduce your tax, you can exclude the part that did not reduce your tax. If you exclude part of the recovery from income, you must include with your return a computation showing how you figured the exclusion.

This rule does not apply to depreciation. You recover depreciation using the rules explained next.

In the following situations, you have to recapture the depreciation deduction. This means you include in income part or all of the depreciation you deducted in previous years.

If your business use of listed property (explained in chapter 8 under Depreciation ) falls to 50% or less in a tax year after the tax year you placed the property in service, you may have to recapture part of the depreciation deduction. You do this by including in income on Schedule C part of the depreciation you deducted in previous years. Use Part IV of Form 4797 to figure the amount to include on Schedule C. For more information, see What Is the Business-Use Requirement? in chapter 5 of Pub. 946. That chapter explains how to determine whether property is used more than 50% in your business.

If you take a section 179 deduction (explained in chapter 8 under Depreciation ) for an asset and before the end of the asset's recovery period the percentage of business use drops to 50% or less, you must recapture part of the section 179 deduction. You do this by including in income on Schedule C part of the deduction you took. Use Part IV of Form 4797 to figure the amount to include on Schedule C. See chapter 2 of Pub. 946 to find out when you recapture the deduction.

If you sell or exchange depreciable property at a gain, you may have to treat all or part of the gain due to depreciation as ordinary income. You figure the income due to depreciation recapture in Part III of Form 4797. For more information, see chapter 4 of Pub. 544.

Items That Are Not Income

In some cases, the property or money you receive is not income.

Increases in value of your property are not income until you realize the increases through a sale or other taxable disposition.

Consignments of merchandise to others to sell for you are not sales. The title of merchandise remains with you, the consignor, even after the consignee possesses the merchandise. Therefore, if you ship goods on consignment, you have no profit or loss until the consignee sells the merchandise. Merchandise you have shipped out on consignment is included in your inventory until it is sold.

Do not include merchandise you receive on consignment in your inventory. Include your profit or commission on merchandise consigned to you in your income when you sell the merchandise or when you receive your profit or commission, depending upon the method of accounting you use.

If you enter into a lease after August 5, 1997, you can exclude from income the construction allowance you receive (in cash or as a rent reduction) from your landlord if you receive it under both the following conditions.

Under a short-term lease of retail space.

For the purpose of constructing or improving qualified long-term real property for use in your business at that retail space.

You can exclude the construction allowance to the extent it does not exceed the amount you spent for construction or improvements.

A short-term lease is a lease (or other agreement for occupancy or use) of retail space for 15 years or less. The following rules apply in determining whether the lease is for 15 years or less.

Take into account options to renew when figuring whether the lease is for 15 years or less. But do not take into account any option to renew at fair market value determined at the time of renewal.

Two or more successive leases that are part of the same transaction (or a series of related transactions) for the same or substantially similar retail space are treated as one lease.

Retail space is real property leased, occupied, or otherwise used by you as a tenant in your business of selling tangible personal property or services to the general public.

Qualified long-term real property is nonresidential real property that is part of, or otherwise present at, your retail space and that reverts to the landlord when the lease ends.

Generally, if you exchange real property used for business or held as an investment solely for other business or investment real property of a like kind, no gain or loss is recognized. This means that the gain is not taxable and the loss is not deductible. For more information, see Form 8824.

If a tenant erects buildings or makes improvements to your property, the increase in the value of the property due to the improvements is not income to you. However, if the facts indicate that the improvements are a payment of rent to you, then the increase in value would be income.

Money borrowed through a bona fide loan is not income.

State and local sales taxes imposed on the buyer, which you were required to collect and pay over to state or local governments, are not income.

Guidelines for Selected Occupations

This section provides information to determine whether your earnings should be reported on Schedule C (Form 1040).

You must report all income you receive as a direct seller on Schedule C. This includes any of the following.

Income from sales—Payments you receive from customers for products they buy from you.

Commissions, bonuses, or percentages you receive for sales and the sales of others who work under you.

Prizes, awards, and gifts you receive from your selling business.

You are a direct seller if you meet all the following conditions.

You are engaged in one of the following trades or businesses.

Selling or soliciting the sale of consumer products either in a home or other place that is not a permanent retail establishment, or to any buyer on a buy-sell basis or a deposit-commission basis for resale in a home or other place of business that is not a permanent retail establishment.

Delivering or distributing newspapers or shopping news (including any services directly related to that trade or business).

Substantially all your pay (whether paid in cash or not) for services described above is directly related to sales or other output (including performance of services) rather than to the number of hours worked.

Your services are performed under a written contract between you and the person for whom you perform the services, and the contract provides that you will not be treated as an employee for federal tax purposes.

If you administer a deceased person's estate, your fees are reported on Schedule C if you are one of the following.

A professional fiduciary.

A nonprofessional fiduciary (personal representative) and both of the following apply.

The estate includes an active trade or business in which you actively participate.

Your fees are related to the operation of that trade or business.

A nonprofessional fiduciary of a single estate that requires extensive managerial activities on your part for a long period of time, provided these activities are enough to be considered a trade or business.

If the fees do not meet the above requirements, report them on line 8z of Schedule 1 (Form 1040).

If you are a member of a crew that catches fish or other aquatic life, your earnings are reported on Schedule C if you meet all the requirements shown in chapter 10 under Fishing crew member .

Termination payments you receive as a former self-employed insurance agent from an insurance company because of services you performed for that company are not reported on Schedule C if all the following conditions are met.

You received payments after your agreement to perform services for the company ended.

You did not perform any services for the company after your service agreement ended and before the end of the year in which you received the payment.

You entered into a covenant not to compete against the company for at least a 1-year period beginning on the date your service agreement ended.

The amount of the payments depended primarily on policies sold by you or credited to your account during the last year of your service agreement or the extent to which those policies remain in force for some period after your service agreement ended, or both.

The amount of the payment did not depend to any extent on length of service or overall earnings from services performed for the company (regardless of whether eligibility for the payments depended on length of service).

Income paid by an insurance company to a retired self-employed insurance agent based on a percentage of commissions received before retirement is reported on Schedule C. Also, renewal commissions and deferred commissions for sales made before retirement are generally reported on Schedule C.

However, renewal commissions paid to the survivor of an insurance agent are not reported on Schedule C.

You are a direct seller and your earnings are reported on Schedule C if all the following conditions apply.

You are in the business of delivering or distributing newspapers or shopping news (including directly related services such as soliciting customers and collecting receipts).

Substantially all your pay for these services directly relates to your sales or other output rather than to the number of hours you work.

You perform the services under a written contract that says you will not be treated as an employee for federal tax purposes.

This rule applies whether or not you hire others to help you make deliveries. It also applies whether you buy the papers from the publisher or are paid based on the number of papers you deliver.

If you are age 18 or older and you sell newspapers or magazines, your earnings are reported on Schedule C if all the following conditions apply.

You sell newspapers or magazines to ultimate consumers.

You sell them at a fixed price.

Your earnings are based on the difference between the sales price and your cost of goods sold.

This rule applies whether or not you are guaranteed a minimum amount of earnings. It also applies whether or not you receive credit for unsold newspapers or magazines you return to your supplier.

Fees you receive for services you perform as a notary public are reported on Schedule C. These payments are not subject to SE tax (see the Instructions for Schedule SE (Form 1040)).

Public officials generally do not report what they earn for serving in public office on Schedule C. This rule applies to payments received by an elected tax collector from state funds on the basis of a fixed percentage of the taxes collected. Public office includes any elective or appointive office of the United States or its territories, the District of Columbia, a state or its political subdivisions, or a wholly owned instrumentality of any of these.

Public officials of state or local governments report their fees from the public on Schedule C if they are paid solely on a fee basis and if their services are eligible for, but not covered by, social security under a federal-state agreement.

If you are a licensed real estate agent or a direct seller, your earnings are reported on Schedule C if both the following apply.

Substantially all your pay for services as a real estate agent or direct seller directly relates to your sales or other output rather than to the number of hours you work.

If you are a dealer in options or commodities, your gains and losses from dealing or trading in section 1256 contracts (regulated futures contracts, foreign currency contracts, nonequity options, dealer equity options, and dealer securities futures contracts) or property related to those contracts (such as stock used to hedge options) are reported on Schedule C. For more information, see sections 1256 and 1402(i).

You are a trader in securities or commodities if you are engaged in the business of buying and selling securities or commodities for your own account. As a trader in securities or commodities (including if you made the section 475(f) mark-to-market election as a trader in securities or commodities), your gain or loss from the disposition of securities or commodities is not reported on Schedule C. For more information about traders in securities or commodities, see Pub. 550, Investment Income and Expenses, and Topic No. 429, Traders in Securities .

Accounting for Your Income

Accounting for your income for income tax purposes differs at times from accounting for financial purposes. This section discusses some of the more common differences that may affect business transactions.

Figure your business income on the basis of a tax year and according to your regular method of accounting (see chapter 2 ). If the sale of a product is an income-producing factor in your business, you usually have to use inventories to clearly show your income. Dealers in real estate are not allowed to use inventories. For more information on inventories, see chapter 2 .

All income you earn is taxable to you. You cannot avoid tax by having the income paid to a third party.

You rent out your property and the rental agreement directs the lessee to pay the rent to your son. The amount paid to your son is gross income to you.

These are amounts the seller permits you to deduct from the invoice price for prompt payment. For income tax purposes, you can use either of the following two methods to account for cash discounts.

Deduct the cash discount from purchases (see Line 36—Purchases Less Cost of Items Withdrawn for Personal Use in chapter 6).

Credit the cash discount to a discount income account.

If you use the second method, the credit balance in the account at the end of your tax year is business income. Under this method, you do not reduce the cost of goods sold by the cash discounts you received. When valuing your closing inventory, you cannot reduce the invoice price of merchandise on hand at the close of the tax year by the average or estimated discounts received on the merchandise.

These are reductions from list or catalog prices and are usually not written into the invoice or charged to the customer. Do not enter these discounts on your books of account. Instead, use only the net amount as the cost of the merchandise purchased. For more information, see Trade discounts in chapter 6.

If the buyer of your property places part or all of the purchase price in escrow, you do not include any part of it in gross sales until you actually or constructively receive it. However, upon completion of the terms of the contract and the escrow agreement, you will have taxable income, even if you do not accept the money until the next year.

Credits you allow customers for returned merchandise and any other allowances you make on sales are deductions from gross sales in figuring net sales.

Special rules dealing with an accrual method of accounting for payments received in advance are discussed in chapter 2 under Accrual Method .

If you receive insurance or another type of reimbursement for a casualty or theft loss, you must subtract it from the loss when you figure your deduction. You cannot deduct the reimbursed part of a casualty or theft loss.

For information on casualty or theft losses, see Pub. 547.

6. How To Figure Cost of Goods Sold

If you make or buy goods to sell, you can deduct the cost of goods sold from your gross receipts on Schedule C. However, to determine these costs, you must value your inventory at the beginning and end of each tax year.

This chapter applies to you if you are a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer or if you are engaged in any business that makes, buys, or sells goods to produce income. This chapter does not apply to a personal service business, such as the business of a doctor, lawyer, carpenter, or painter. However, if you work in a personal service business and also sell or charge for the materials and supplies normally used in your business, this chapter applies to you.

Figuring Cost of Goods Sold on Schedule C, Lines 35 Through 42

Figure your cost of goods sold by filling out lines 35 through 42 of Schedule C. These lines are reproduced below and are explained in the discussion that follows.

Line 35—Inventory at Beginning of Year

If you are a merchant, beginning inventory is the cost of merchandise on hand at the beginning of the year that you will sell to customers. If you are a manufacturer or producer, it includes the total cost of raw materials, work in process, finished goods, and materials and supplies used in manufacturing the goods (see Inventories in chapter 2).

Opening inventory will usually be identical to the closing inventory of the year before. You must explain any difference in a schedule attached to your return.

If you contribute inventory (property that you sell in the course of your business), the amount you can claim as a contribution deduction is the smaller of its fair market value on the day you contributed it or its basis. The basis of donated inventory is any cost incurred for the inventory in an earlier year that you would otherwise include in your opening inventory for the year of the contribution. You must remove the amount of your contribution deduction from your opening inventory. It is not part of the cost of goods sold.

If the cost of donated inventory is not included in your opening inventory, the inventory's basis is zero and you cannot claim a charitable contribution deduction. Treat the inventory's cost as you would ordinarily treat it under your method of accounting. For example, include the purchase price of inventory bought and donated in the same year in the cost of goods sold for that year.

A special rule may apply to certain donations of food inventory. See Pub. 526, Charitable Contributions.

You are a calendar year taxpayer who uses an accrual method of accounting. In 2023, you contributed property from inventory to a church. It had a fair market value of $600. The closing inventory at the end of 2022 properly included $400 of costs due to the acquisition of the property, and in 2022, you properly deducted $50 of administrative and other expenses attributable to the property as business expenses. The charitable contribution allowed for 2023 is $400 ($600 − $200). The $200 is the amount that would be ordinary income if you had sold the contributed inventory at fair market value on the date of the gift. The cost of goods sold you use in determining gross income for 2023 must not include the $400. You remove that amount from opening inventory for 2023.

If, in Example 1 , you acquired the contributed property in 2023 at a cost of $400, you would include the $400 cost of the property in figuring the cost of goods sold for 2023 and deduct the $50 of administrative and other expenses attributable to the property for that year. You would not be allowed any charitable contribution deduction for the contributed property.

Line 36—Purchases Less Cost of Items Withdrawn for Personal Use

If you are a merchant, use the cost of all merchandise you bought for sale. If you are a manufacturer or producer, this includes the cost of all raw materials or parts purchased for manufacture into a finished product.

The differences between the stated prices of articles and the actual prices you pay for them are called trade discounts. You must use the prices you pay (not the stated prices) in figuring your cost of purchases. Do not show the discount amount separately as an item in gross income.

An automobile dealer must record the cost of a car in inventory reduced by any manufacturer's rebate that represents a trade discount.

Cash discounts are amounts your suppliers let you deduct from your purchase invoices for prompt payments. There are two methods of accounting for cash discounts. You can either credit them to a separate discount account or deduct them from total purchases for the year. Whichever method you use, you must be consistent. If you want to change your method of figuring inventory cost, you must file Form 3115. For more information, see Change in Accounting Method in chapter 2.

If you credit cash discounts to a separate account, you must include this credit balance in your business income at the end of the tax year. If you use this method, do not reduce your cost of goods sold by the cash discounts.

You must deduct all returns and allowances from your total purchases during the year.

If you withdraw merchandise for your personal or family use, you must exclude this cost from the total amount of merchandise you bought for sale. Do this by crediting the purchases or sales account with the cost of merchandise you withdraw for personal use. You must also charge the amount to your drawing account.

A drawing account is a separate account you should keep to record the business income you withdraw to pay for personal and family expenses. As stated above, you also use it to record withdrawals of merchandise for personal or family use. This account is also known as a withdrawals account or personal account.

Line 37—Cost of Labor

Labor costs are usually an element of cost of goods sold only in a manufacturing or mining business. Small merchandisers (wholesalers, retailers, etc.) usually do not have labor costs that can properly be charged to cost of goods sold. In a manufacturing business, labor costs properly allocable to the cost of goods sold include both the direct and indirect labor used in fabricating the raw material into a finished, saleable product.

Direct labor costs are the wages you pay to those employees who spend all their time working directly on the product being manufactured. They also include a part of the wages you pay to employees who work directly on the product part time if you can determine that part of their wages.

Indirect labor costs are the wages you pay to employees who perform a general factory function that does not have any immediate or direct connection with making the saleable product, but that is a necessary part of the manufacturing process.

Other labor costs not properly chargeable to the cost of goods sold can be deducted as selling or administrative expenses. Generally, the only kinds of labor costs properly chargeable to your cost of goods sold are the direct or indirect labor costs and certain other costs treated as overhead expenses properly charged to the manufacturing process, as discussed later under Line 39—Other Costs .

Materials and supplies, such as hardware and chemicals, used in manufacturing goods are charged to cost of goods sold. Those that are not used in the manufacturing process are treated as deferred charges. You deduct them as a business expense when you use them. Business expenses are discussed in chapter 8 .

Line 39—Other Costs

Examples of other costs incurred in a manufacturing or mining process that you charge to your cost of goods sold are as follows.

Containers and packages that are an integral part of the product manufactured are a part of your cost of goods sold. If they are not an integral part of the manufactured product, their costs are shipping or selling expenses.

Freight-in, express-in, and cartage-in on raw materials, supplies you use in production, and merchandise you purchase for sale are all part of cost of goods sold.

Overhead expenses include expenses such as rent, heat, light, power, insurance, depreciation, taxes, maintenance, labor, and supervision. The overhead expenses you have as direct and necessary expenses of the manufacturing operation are included in your cost of goods sold.

The total of lines 35 through 39 equals the cost of the goods available for sale during the year.

Subtract the value of your closing inventory (including, as appropriate, the allocable parts of the cost of raw materials and supplies, direct labor, and overhead expenses) from line 40. Inventory at the end of the year is also known as closing or ending inventory. Your ending inventory will usually become the beginning inventory of your next tax year.

When you subtract your closing inventory (inventory at the end of the year) from the cost of goods available for sale, the remainder is your cost of goods sold during the tax year.

7. Figuring Gross Profit

After you have figured the gross receipts from your business ( chapter 5 ) and the cost of goods sold ( chapter 6 ), you are ready to figure your gross profit. You must determine gross profit before you can deduct any business expenses. These expenses are discussed in chapter 8 .

Figure your gross profit by first figuring your net receipts. Figure net receipts (line 3) on Schedule C by subtracting any returns and allowances (line 2) from gross receipts (line 1). Returns and allowances include cash or credit refunds you make to customers, rebates, and other allowances off the actual sales price.

Next, subtract the cost of goods sold (line 4) from net receipts (line 3). The result is the gross profit from your business.

You do not have to figure the cost of goods sold if the sale of merchandise is not an income-producing factor for your business. Your gross profit is the same as your net receipts (gross receipts minus any refunds, rebates, or other allowances). Most professions and businesses that sell services rather than products can figure gross profit directly from net receipts in this way.

This illustration of the gross profit section of the income statement of a retail business shows how gross profit is figured.

Income Statement Year Ended December 31, 2023

The cost of goods sold for this business is figured as follows.

Items To Check

Consider the following items before figuring your gross profit.

At the end of each business day, make sure your records balance with your actual cash and credit receipts for the day. You may find it helpful to use cash registers to keep track of receipts. You should also use a proper invoicing system and keep a separate bank account for your business.

Check to make sure your records show the correct sales tax collected.

If you collect state and local sales taxes imposed on you as the seller of goods or services from the buyer, you must include the amount collected in gross receipts.

If you are required to collect state and local taxes imposed on the buyer and turn them over to state or local governments, you generally do not include these amounts in income.

Compare this figure with last year's ending inventory. The two amounts should usually be the same.

If you take any inventory items for your personal use (use them yourself, provide them to your family, or give them as personal gifts, etc.), be sure to remove them from the cost of goods sold. For details on how to adjust cost of goods sold, see Merchandise withdrawn from sale in chapter 6.

Check to make sure your procedures for taking inventory are adequate. These procedures should ensure all items have been included in inventory and proper pricing techniques have been used.

Use inventory forms and adding machine tapes as the only evidence for your inventory. Inventory forms are available at office supply stores. These forms have columns for recording the description, quantity, unit price, and value of each inventory item. Each page has space to record who made the physical count, who priced the items, who made the extensions, and who proofread the calculations. These forms will help you confirm that the total inventory is accurate. They will also provide you with a permanent record to support its validity.

Inventories are discussed in chapter 2 .

Testing Gross Profit Accuracy

If you are in a retail or wholesale business, you can check the accuracy of your gross profit figure. First, divide gross profit by net receipts. The resulting percentage measures the average spread between the merchandise cost of goods sold and the selling price.

Next, compare this percentage to your markup policy. Little or no difference between these two percentages shows that your gross profit figure is accurate. A large difference between these percentages may show that you did not accurately figure sales, purchases, inventory, or other items of cost. You should determine the reason for the difference.

You operate a retail business. On the average, you mark up your merchandise so that you will realize a gross profit of 33 1 / 3 % on its sales. The net receipts (gross receipts minus returns and allowances) shown on your income statement are $300,000. Your cost of goods sold is $200,000. This results in a gross profit of $100,000 ($300,000 − $200,000). To test the accuracy of this year's results, you divide gross profit ($100,000) by net receipts ($300,000). The resulting 33 1 / 3 % confirms your markup percentage of 33 1 / 3 %.

If your business has income from a source other than its regular business operations, enter the income on line 6 of Schedule C and add it to gross profit. The result is gross business income. Some examples include income from an interest-bearing checking account, income from scrap sales, income from certain fuel tax credits and refunds, and amounts recovered from bad debts.

8. Business Expenses

You can deduct the costs of operating your business. These costs are known as business expenses. These are costs you do not have to capitalize or include in the cost of goods sold but can deduct in the current year.

To be deductible, a business expense must be both ordinary and necessary. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your field of business. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your business. An expense does not have to be indispensable to be considered necessary.

For more information about the general rules for deducting business expenses, see section 162 and its regulations.

463 Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses

946 How To Depreciate Property

If someone owes you money you cannot collect, you have a bad debt. There are two kinds of bad debts—business bad debts and nonbusiness bad debts.

A business bad debt is generally one that comes from operating your trade or business. You may be able to deduct business bad debts as an expense on your business tax return.

A business bad debt is a loss from the worthlessness of a debt that was either of the following.

Created or acquired in your business.

Closely related to your business when it became partly or totally worthless.

Business bad debts are mainly the result of credit sales to customers. They can also be the result of loans to suppliers, clients, employees, or distributors. Goods and services that customers have not paid for are shown in your books as either accounts receivable or notes receivable. If you are unable to collect any part of these accounts or notes receivable, the uncollectible part is a business bad debt.

If you use an accrual method of accounting, you normally report income as you earn it. You can take a bad debt deduction for an uncollectible receivable if you have included the uncollectible amount in income.

If you use the cash method of accounting, you normally report income when you receive payment. You cannot take a bad debt deduction for amounts owed to you that you have not received and cannot collect if you never included those amounts in income.

For more information about business bad debts, see section 166 and its regulations.

All other bad debts are nonbusiness bad debts and are deductible as short-term capital losses on Form 8949 and Schedule D (Form 1040). For more information on nonbusiness bad debts, see section 166 and its regulations.

Car and Truck Expenses

If you use your car or truck in your business, you may be able to deduct the costs of operating and maintaining your vehicle. You may also be able to deduct other costs of local transportation and traveling away from home overnight on business.

Local transportation expenses include the ordinary and necessary costs of all the following.

Getting from one workplace to another in the course of your business or profession when you are traveling within the city or general area that is your tax home. Tax home is defined later.

Visiting clients or customers.

Going to a business meeting away from your regular workplace.

Getting from your home to a temporary workplace when you have one or more regular places of work. These temporary workplaces can be either within the area of your tax home or outside that area.

Generally, your tax home is your regular place of business, regardless of where you maintain your family home. It includes the entire city or general area in which your business or work is located.

You operate a printing business out of rented office space. You use your van to deliver completed jobs to your customers. You can deduct the cost of round-trip transportation between your customers and your print shop.

Your workplace can be your home if you have an office in your home that qualifies as your principal place of business. For more information, see Business Use of Your Home , later.

You are a graphic designer. You operate your business out of your home. Your home qualifies as your principal place of business. You occasionally have to drive to your clients to deliver your completed work. You can deduct the cost of the round-trip transportation between your home and your clients.

Methods for Deducting Car and Truck Expenses

For local transportation or overnight travel by car or truck, you can generally use one of the following methods to figure your expenses.

You may be able to use the standard mileage rate to figure the deductible costs of operating your car, van, pickup, or panel truck for business purposes. The business standard mileage rate for 2023 is 65.5 cents a mile.

If you want to use the standard mileage rate for a car or truck you own, you must choose to use it in the first year the car is available for use in your business. In later years, you can choose to use either the standard mileage rate or actual expenses.

If you choose to use the standard mileage rate for a car you lease, you must use it for the entire lease period (including renewals).

You cannot use the standard mileage rate if you:

Operate five or more cars at the same time;

Claimed a depreciation deduction using any method other than straight line, for example, ACRS or MACRS;

Claimed a section 179 deduction on the car;

Claimed the special depreciation allowance on the car;

Claimed actual car expenses for a car you leased; or

Are a rural mail carrier who received a qualified reimbursement.

In addition to using the standard mileage rate, you can deduct any business-related parking fees and tolls. (Parking fees you pay to park your car at your place of work are nondeductible commuting expenses.)

If you do not choose to use the standard mileage rate, you may be able to deduct your actual car or truck expenses.

Actual car expenses include the costs of the following items.

If you use your vehicle for both business and personal purposes, you must divide your expenses between business and personal use. You can divide your expenses based on the miles driven for each purpose.

You are the sole proprietor of a flower shop. You drove your van 20,000 miles during the year. 16,000 miles were for delivering flowers to customers and 4,000 miles were for personal use (including commuting miles). You can claim only 80% (16,000 ÷ 20,000) of the cost of operating your van as a business expense.

For more information about the rules for claiming car and truck expenses, see Pub. 463.

You can generally deduct the amount you reimburse your employees for car and truck expenses. The reimbursement you deduct and the manner in which you deduct it depend in part on whether you reimburse the expenses under an accountable plan or a nonaccountable plan. For details, see Pub. 15. That publication explains accountable and nonaccountable plans and tells you whether to report the reimbursement on your employee's Form W-2.

Depreciation

If property you acquire to use in your business is expected to last more than 1 year, you generally cannot deduct the entire cost as a business expense in the year you acquire it. You must spread the cost over more than 1 tax year and deduct part of it each year on Schedule C. This method of deducting the cost of business property is called depreciation.

The following is a brief overview. You will find more information about depreciation in Pub. 946.

You can depreciate property if it meets all the following requirements.

It must be property you own.

It must be used in business or held to produce income. You can never depreciate inventory (explained in chapter 2 ) because it is not held for use in your business.

It must have a useful life that extends substantially beyond the year it is placed in service.

It must have a determinable useful life, which means that it must be something that wears out, decays, gets used up, becomes obsolete, or loses its value from natural causes. You can never depreciate the cost of land because land does not wear out, become obsolete, or get used up.

It must not be excepted property. This includes property placed in service and disposed of in the same year.

In general, you do not depreciate the costs of repairs or maintenance if they do not improve your property. Instead, you deduct these amounts on line 21 of Schedule C. Improvements are amounts paid for betterments to your property, restorations of your property, or work that adapts your property to a new or different use.

You can make an election to treat certain repairs or replacements in your trade or business as improvements subject to depreciation. This election is available if you treat these amounts as capital expenditures on your books and records regularly used in computing your income and expenses.

The method for depreciating most business and investment property placed in service after 1986 is called the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS). MACRS is discussed in detail in Pub. 946.

You can elect to deduct a limited amount of the cost of certain depreciable property in the year you place the property in service. This deduction is known as the section 179 deduction. The maximum amount you can elect to deduct during 2023 is generally $1,160,000 (higher limits apply to certain property).

This limit is generally reduced by the amount by which the cost of the property placed in service during the tax year exceeds $2,890,000. The total amount of depreciation (including the section 179 deduction) you can take for a passenger automobile you use in your business and first place in service in 2023 is $12,200 ($20,200 if you take the special depreciation allowance for qualified passenger automobiles placed in service in 2023). Special rules apply to trucks and vans. For more information, see Pub. 946. It explains what property qualifies for the deduction, what limits apply to the deduction, and when and how to recapture the deduction.

You must follow special rules and recordkeeping requirements when depreciating listed property. Listed property includes any of the following.

Most passenger automobiles.

Most other property used for transportation.

Any property of a type generally used for entertainment, recreation, or amusement.

For more information about listed property, see Pub. 946.

Use Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization, if you are claiming any of the following.

Depreciation on property placed in service during the current tax year.

A section 179 deduction.

Depreciation on any listed property (regardless of when it was placed in service).

Employees' Pay

You can generally deduct on Schedule C the pay you give your employees for the services they perform for your business. The pay may be in cash, property, or services.

To be deductible, your employees' pay must be an ordinary and necessary expense and you must pay or incur it in the tax year. In addition, the pay must meet both the following tests.

The pay must be reasonable.

The pay must be for services performed.

You cannot deduct your own salary or any personal withdrawals you make from your business. As a sole proprietor, you are not an employee of the business.

Some of the ways you may provide pay to your employees are listed below.

Education expenses.

Fringe benefits (discussed later).

Loans or advances you do not expect the employee to repay if they are for personal services actually performed.

Property you transfer to an employee as payment for services.

Reimbursements for employee business expenses.

Vacation pay.

A fringe benefit is a form of pay for the performance of services. The following are examples of fringe benefits.

Benefits under qualified employee benefit programs.

The use of a car.

Flights on airplanes.

Discounts on property or services.

Employee benefit programs include the following.

Accident and health plans.

Adoption assistance.

Cafeteria plans.

Dependent care assistance.

Educational assistance.

Group-term life insurance coverage.

Welfare benefit funds.

You can generally deduct the cost of fringe benefits you provide on your Schedule C in whatever category the cost falls. For example, if you allow an employee to use a car or other property you lease, deduct the cost of the lease as a rent or lease expense. If you own the property, include your deduction for its cost or other basis as a section 179 deduction or a depreciation deduction.

You can generally deduct premiums you pay for the following kinds of insurance related to your business.

Fire, theft, flood, or similar insurance.

Credit insurance that covers losses from business bad debts.

Group hospitalization and medical insurance for employees, including long-term care insurance.

Liability insurance.

Malpractice insurance that covers your personal liability for professional negligence resulting in injury or damage to patients or clients.

Workers' compensation insurance set by state law that covers any claims for bodily injuries or job-related diseases suffered by employees in your business, regardless of fault.

Contributions to a state unemployment insurance fund are deductible as taxes if they are considered taxes under state law.

Overhead insurance that pays for business overhead expenses you have during long periods of disability caused by your injury or sickness.

Car and other vehicle insurance that covers vehicles used in your business for liability, damages, and other losses. If you operate a vehicle partly for personal use, deduct only the part of the insurance premium that applies to the business use of the vehicle. If you use the standard mileage rate to figure your car expenses, you cannot deduct any car insurance premiums.

Life insurance covering your employees if you are not directly or indirectly the beneficiary under the contract.

Business interruption insurance that pays for lost profits if your business is shut down due to a fire or other cause.

You cannot deduct premiums on the following kinds of insurance.

Self-insurance reserve funds. You cannot deduct amounts credited to a reserve set up for self-insurance. This applies even if you cannot get business insurance coverage for certain business risks. However, your actual losses may be deductible. For more information, see Pub. 547.

Loss of earnings. You cannot deduct premiums for a policy that pays for your lost earnings due to sickness or disability. However, see item 8 in the previous list.

Certain life insurance and annuities.

For contracts issued before June 9, 1997, you cannot deduct the premiums on a life insurance policy covering you, an employee, or any person with a financial interest in your business if you are directly or indirectly a beneficiary of the policy. You are included among possible beneficiaries of the policy if the policy owner is obligated to repay a loan from you using the proceeds of the policy. A person has a financial interest in your business if the person is an owner or part owner of the business or has lent money to the business.

For contracts issued after June 8, 1997, you generally cannot deduct the premiums on any life insurance policy, endowment contract, or annuity contract if you are directly or indirectly a beneficiary. The disallowance applies without regard to whom the policy covers.

Insurance to secure a loan. If you take out a policy on your life or on the life of another person with a financial interest in your business to get or protect a business loan, you cannot deduct the premiums as a business expense. Nor can you deduct the premiums as interest on business loans or as an expense of financing loans. In the event of death, the proceeds of the policy are not taxed as income even if they are used to liquidate the debt.

You may be able to deduct the amount you paid for medical and dental insurance and qualified long-term care insurance for you and your family.

Generally, you can use the worksheet in the Instructions for Form 1040 to figure your deduction. However, if any of the following apply, you must use Form(s) 7206.

You have more than one source of income subject to SE tax.

You file Form 2555 (relating to foreign earned income).

You are using amounts paid for qualified long-term care insurance to figure the deduction.

See Form 8962 and its separate instructions and use Pub. 974 if the insurance plan established, or considered to be established, under your business was obtained through the Health Insurance Marketplace and you are claiming the premium tax credit.

You cannot deduct expenses in advance, even if you pay them in advance. This rule applies to any expense paid far enough in advance to, in effect, create an asset with a useful life extending substantially beyond the end of the current tax year.

In 2023, you signed a 3-year insurance contract. Even though you paid the premiums for 2023, 2024, and 2025 when you signed the contract, you can only deduct the premium for 2023 on your 2023 tax return. You can deduct in 2024 and 2025 the premiums allocable to those years.

You can generally deduct as a business expense some or all interest you pay or accrue during the tax year on debts related to your business. Interest relates to your business if you use the proceeds of the loan for a business expense. It does not matter what type of property secures the loan. You can deduct interest on a debt only if you meet all of the following requirements.

You are legally liable for that debt.

Both you and the lender intend that the debt be repaid.

You and the lender have a true debtor-creditor relationship.

Certain taxpayers are required to limit their business interest expense deduction. See the Instructions for Form 8990 to determine whether you are required to limit your business interest expense deduction, who is required to file Form 8990, and how certain businesses may elect out of the business interest expense limitation.

You cannot deduct on Schedule C the interest you paid on personal loans. If a loan is part business and part personal, you must divide the interest between the personal part and the business part.

In 2023, you paid $600 interest on a car loan. During 2023, you used the car 60% for business and 40% for personal purposes. You are claiming actual expenses on the car. You can only deduct $360 (60% (0.60) × $600) for 2023 on Schedule C. The remaining interest of $240 is a nondeductible personal expense.

Additional items to consider are shown below.

How to allocate interest between personal and business use.

Limitation on business interest.

When to deduct interest.

The rules for a below-market interest rate loan. (This is generally a loan on which no interest is charged or on which interest is charged at a rate below the applicable federal rate.)

Legal and Professional Fees

Legal and professional fees, such as fees charged by accountants, that are ordinary and necessary expenses directly related to operating your business are deductible on Schedule C. However, you usually cannot deduct legal fees you pay to acquire business assets. Add them to the basis of the property.

If the fees include payments for work of a personal nature (such as making a will), you can take a business deduction only for the part of the fee related to your business.

You can deduct on Schedule C the cost of preparing that part of your tax return relating to your business as a sole proprietor or statutory employee.

You can also deduct on Schedule C the amount you pay or incur in resolving asserted tax deficiencies for your business as a sole proprietor or statutory employee.

You can set up and maintain the following small business retirement plans for yourself and your employees.

SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) plans.

SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees) plans.

Qualified plans (including Keogh or H.R. 10 plans).

SEP, SIMPLE, and qualified plans offer you and your employees a tax-favored way to save for retirement. You can deduct contributions you make to the plan for your employees on line 19 of Schedule C. If you are a sole proprietor, you can deduct contributions you make to the plan for yourself on line 16 of Schedule 1 (Form 1040). You can also deduct trustees' fees if contributions to the plan do not cover them. Earnings on the contributions are generally tax free until you or your employees receive distributions from the plan. You may also be able to claim a tax credit if you begin a new qualified defined benefit or defined contribution plan (including a 401(k) plan), SIMPLE plan, or SEP plan. For details on this credit and credits for auto-enrollment and military spouse participation, see Form 8881 and its separate instructions.

Under certain plans, employees can have you contribute limited amounts of their before-tax pay to a plan. These amounts (and earnings on them) are generally tax free until your employees receive distributions from the plan.

For more information on retirement plans for small business, see Pub. 560.

Rent Expense

Rent is any amount you pay for the use of property you do not own. In general, you can deduct rent as a business expense only if the rent is for property you use in your business. If you have or will receive equity in or title to the property, you cannot deduct the rent.

You cannot take a rental deduction for unreasonable rents. Ordinarily, the issue of reasonableness arises only if you and the lessor are related. Rent paid to a related person is reasonable if it is the same amount you would pay to a stranger for use of the same property. Rent is not unreasonable just because it is figured as a percentage of gross receipts.

Related persons include members of your immediate family, including siblings (either whole or half), your spouse, ancestors, and lineal descendants. For a list of the other related persons, see section 267 of the Internal Revenue Code.

If you rent your home and use part of it as your place of business, you may be able to deduct the rent you pay for that part. You must meet the requirements for business use of your home. For more information, see Business Use of Your Home , later.

Generally, rent paid in your business is deductible in the year paid or accrued. If you pay rent in advance, you can deduct only the amount that applies to your use of the rented property during the tax year. You can deduct the rest of your payment only over the period to which it applies.

You can deduct on Schedule C various federal, state, local, and foreign taxes directly attributable to your business.

You can deduct on Schedule C a state tax on gross income (as distinguished from net income) directly attributable to your business. You can deduct other state and local income taxes on Schedule A (Form 1040) if you itemize your deductions. Do not deduct federal income tax.

You can deduct the social security, Medicare, and FUTA taxes you paid out of your own funds as an employer. Employment taxes are discussed briefly in chapter 1 . You can also deduct payments you made as an employer to a state unemployment compensation fund or to a state disability benefit fund. Deduct these payments as taxes.

You can deduct one-half of your SE tax on line 15 of Schedule 1 (Form 1040). SE tax is discussed in chapter 1 and chapter 10 .

You can deduct on Schedule C any tax imposed by a state or local government on personal property used in your business.

You can also deduct registration fees for the right to use property within a state or local area.

You and your spouse drove your car 7,000 business miles out of a total of 10,000 miles. You and your spouse had to pay $25 for your annual state license tags and $20 for your city registration sticker. You and your spouse also paid $235 in city personal property tax on the car, for a total of $280. You and your spouse are claiming your actual car expenses. Because you and your spouse used the car 70% for business, you and your spouse can deduct 70% of the $280, or $196, as a business expense.

You can deduct on Schedule C the real estate taxes you pay on your business property. Deductible real estate taxes are any state, local, or foreign taxes on real estate levied for the general public welfare. The taxing authority must assess these taxes uniformly at a like rate on all real property under its jurisdiction, and the proceeds must be for general community or governmental purposes.

Treat any sales tax you pay on a service or on the purchase or use of property as part of the cost of the service or property. If the service or the cost or use of the property is a deductible business expense, you can deduct the tax as part of that service or cost. If the property is merchandise bought for resale, the sales tax is part of the cost of the merchandise. If the property is depreciable, add the sales tax to the basis for depreciation. For information on the basis of property, see Pub. 551.

You can deduct on Schedule C all excise taxes that are ordinary and necessary expenses of carrying on your business. Excise taxes are discussed briefly in chapter 1.

Taxes on gasoline, diesel fuel, and other motor fuels you use in your business are usually included as part of the cost of the fuel. Do not deduct these taxes as a separate item.

You may be entitled to a credit or refund for federal excise tax you paid on fuels used for certain purposes. For more information, see Pub. 510.

Travel and Meals

This section briefly explains the kinds of travel and meal expenses you can deduct on Schedule C.

These are the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for your business. You are traveling away from home if both the following conditions are met.

Your duties require you to be away from the general area of your tax home (defined later) substantially longer than an ordinary day's work.

You need to get sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away from home.

The following is a brief discussion of the expenses you can deduct.

You can deduct the cost of travel by airplane, train, bus, or car between your home and your business destination.

You can deduct fares for these and other types of transportation between the airport or station and your hotel, or between the hotel and your work location away from home.

You can deduct the cost of sending baggage and sample or display material between your regular and temporary work locations.

You can deduct the costs of operating and maintaining your vehicle when traveling away from home on business. You can deduct actual expenses or the standard mileage rate (discussed earlier under Car and Truck Expenses ), as well as business-related tolls and parking. If you rent a car while away from home on business, you can deduct only the business-use portion of the expenses.

You can deduct the cost of meals and lodging if your business trip is overnight or long enough that you need to stop for sleep or rest to properly perform your duties. You can use actual expenses or the standard meal allowance to calculate your deduction. In most cases, you can deduct only 50% of your meal expenses. See Pub. 463 for additional information.

You can deduct the costs of dry cleaning and laundry while on your business trip.

You can deduct the cost of business calls while on your business trip, including business communication by fax machine or other communication devices.

You can deduct the tips you pay for any expense in this list.

For more information about travel expenses, see Pub. 463.

You can generally deduct the amount you reimburse your employees for travel and meal expenses. The reimbursement you deduct and the manner in which you deduct it depend in part on whether you reimburse the expenses under an accountable plan or a nonaccountable plan. For details, see Pub. 15. That publication explains accountable and nonaccountable plans and tells you whether to report the reimbursement on your employee's Form W-2.

Business Use of Your Home

To deduct expenses related to the part of your home used for business, you must meet specific requirements. Even then, your deduction may be limited.

To qualify to claim expenses for business use of your home, you must meet the following tests.

Your use of the business part of your home must be:

Exclusive (however, see Exceptions to exclusive use , later),

Regular, and

For your business.

The business part of your home must be:

Your principal place of business (defined later);

A place where you meet or deal with patients, clients, or customers in the normal course of your business; or

A separate structure (not attached to your home) you use in connection with your business.

To qualify under the exclusive use test, you must use a specific area of your home only for your trade or business. The area used for business can be a room or other separately identifiable space. The space does not need to be marked off by a permanent partition.

You do not meet the requirements of the exclusive use test if you use the area in question both for business and for personal purposes.

You are an attorney and use a den in your home to write legal briefs and prepare clients' tax returns. Your family also uses the den for recreation. The den is not used exclusively in your profession, so you cannot claim a business deduction for its use.

You do not have to meet the exclusive use test to the extent you use part of your home in either of the following ways.

For the storage of inventory or product samples.

As a daycare facility.

To qualify under the regular use test, you must use a specific area of your home for business on a continuing basis. You do not meet the test if your business use of the area is only occasional or incidental, even if you do not use that area for any other purpose.

You can have more than one business location, including your home, for a single trade or business. To qualify to deduct the expenses for the business use of your home under the principal place of business test, your home must be your principal place of business for that business. To determine your principal place of business, you must consider all the facts and circumstances.

Your home office will qualify as your principal place of business for deducting expenses for its use if you meet the following requirements.

You use it exclusively and regularly for administrative or management activities of your business.

You have no other fixed location where you conduct substantial administrative or management activities of your business.

Alternatively, if you use your home exclusively and regularly for your business, but your home office does not qualify as your principal place of business based on the previous rules, you determine your principal place of business based on the following factors.

The relative importance of the activities performed at each location.

If the relative importance factor does not determine your principal place of business, you can also consider the time spent at each location.

If, after considering your business locations, your home cannot be identified as your principal place of business, you cannot deduct home office expenses. However, for other ways to qualify to deduct home office expenses, see Pub. 587.

If your gross income from the business use of your home equals or exceeds your total business expenses (including depreciation), you can deduct all your business expenses related to the use of your home. If your gross income from the business use is less than your total business expenses, your deduction for certain expenses for the business use of your home is limited.

Your deduction of otherwise nondeductible expenses, such as insurance, utilities, and depreciation (with depreciation taken last), allocable to the business is limited to the gross income from the business use of your home minus the sum of the following.

The business part of expenses you could deduct even if you did not use your home for business (such as mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and casualty and theft losses that are allowable as itemized deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040)).

The business expenses that relate to the business activity in the home (for example, business phone, supplies, and depreciation on equipment), but not to the use of the home itself.

Use Form 8829 , Expenses for Business Use of Your Home, to figure your deduction.

The IRS provides a simplified method to determine your expenses for business use of your home. The simplified method is an alternative to calculating and substantiating actual expenses. In most cases, you will figure your deduction by multiplying $5 by the area of your home used for a qualified business use. The area you use to figure your deduction is limited to 300 square feet. For more information, see the Instructions for Schedule C.

For more information on deducting expenses for the business use of your home, see Pub. 587.

De Minimis Safe Harbor for Tangible Property

Generally, you must capitalize costs to acquire or produce real or tangible personal property used in your trade or business, such as buildings, equipment, or furniture. However, if you elect to use the de minimis safe harbor for tangible property, you may deduct de minimis amounts paid to acquire or produce certain tangible property if these amounts are deducted by you for financial accounting purposes or in keeping your books and records.

If you have an applicable financial statement, you may use this safe harbor to deduct amounts paid for tangible property up to $5,000 per item or invoice. If you do not have an applicable financial statement, you may use the de minimis safe harbor to deduct amounts paid for tangible property up to $2,500 per item or invoice.

Amounts qualifying under this de minimis safe harbor should be included as other expenses in Part V of Schedule C.

For details on making this election and requirements for using the de minimis safe harbor for tangible property, see Tangible Property Regulations .

You may also be able to deduct the following expenses.

Advertising.

Donations to business organizations.

Impairment-related expenses.

Interview expense allowances.

Licenses and regulatory fees.

Moving machinery.

Outplacement services.

Penalties and fines you pay for late performance or nonperformance of a contract.

Repairs and maintenance to real or tangible personal property.

Repayments of income.

Supplies and materials.

You usually cannot deduct the following as business expenses.

Bribes and kickbacks.

Charitable contributions.

Demolition expenses or losses.

Dues to business, social, athletic, luncheon, sporting, airline, and hotel clubs.

Entertainment expenses.

Improvements to real or tangible personal property. Improvements are amounts paid for betterments to your property, restorations of your property, or work that adapts your property to a new or different use.

Lobbying expenses.

Penalties and fines you pay to a governmental agency or instrumentality because you broke the law.

Personal, living, and family expenses.

Political contributions.

Settlements or payments related to sexual harassment or sexual abuse if such settlement or payment is subject to a nondisclosure agreement. You also cannot deduct attorney fees related to such settlement or payment.

9. Figuring Net Profit or Loss

After figuring your business income and expenses, you are ready to figure the net profit or net loss from your business. You do this by subtracting business expenses from business income. If your expenses are less than your income, the difference is net profit and becomes part of your income on line 3 of Schedule 1 (Form 1040). If your expenses are more than your income, the difference is a net loss. You can usually deduct it from gross income on line 3 of Schedule 1 (Form 1040). But in some situations your loss is limited. This chapter briefly explains three of those situations. Other situations that may limit your loss are explained in the instructions for Schedule C, line G and line 32.

Your loss from a trade or business may be limited. Use Form 461 to determine the amount of your excess business loss, if any. Your excess business loss will be included as income on line 8p of Schedule 1 (Form 1040) and treated as an NOL that you must carry forward and deduct in a subsequent year.

For more information about the excess business loss limitation, see Form 461 and its instructions.

If your deductions for the year are more than your income for the year, you may have an NOL. You can use an NOL by deducting it from your income in another year or years.

Examples of typical losses that may produce an NOL include, but are not limited to, losses incurred from the following.

Your trade or business.

A casualty or theft resulting from a federally declared disaster.

Moving expenses.

Rental property.

A loss from operating a business is the most common reason for an NOL.

For details about NOLs, see Pub. 536. It explains how to figure an NOL, when to use it, how to claim an NOL deduction, and how to figure an NOL carryover.

If you do not carry on your business to make a profit, there is a limit on the deductions you can take. You cannot use a loss from the activity to offset other income. Activities you do as a hobby, or mainly for sport or recreation, come under this limit.

For details about not-for-profit activities, see Hobby or business: here’s what to know about that side hustle .

10. Self-Employment (SE) Tax

Who must pay se tax.

Generally, you must pay SE tax and file Schedule SE (Form 1040) if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. Use Schedule SE to figure net earnings from self-employment.

If you are self-employed as a sole proprietor or independent contractor, you generally use Schedule C (Form 1040) to figure your earnings subject to SE tax.

The 2023 SE tax rate on net earnings is 15.3% (12.4% social security tax plus 2.9% Medicare tax).

All of your combined wages, tips, and net earnings in 2023 are subject to any combination of the 2.9% Medicare part of SE tax, Medicare tax, or Medicare part of railroad retirement tax.

If your wages and tips are subject to either social security tax or the Tier 1 part of railroad retirement tax, or both, and total at least $160,200, do not pay the 12.4% social security part of the SE tax on any of your net earnings. However, you must pay the 2.9% Medicare part of the SE tax on all your net earnings.

A 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax may apply to you if your net earnings from self-employment exceed a threshold amount (based on your filing status). For more information, see Self-Employment (SE) Tax in chapter 1, and Form 8959 and its instructions.

Special Rules and Exceptions

Generally, resident aliens must pay SE tax under the same rules that apply to U.S. citizens. Nonresident aliens are not subject to SE tax unless an international social security agreement (also known as a totalization agreement) in effect determines that they are covered under the U.S. social security system. However, residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or American Samoa are subject to SE tax, as they are considered U.S. residents for SE tax purposes. For more information on aliens, see Pub. 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.

You are not subject to SE tax if you are under age 18 and you are working for your father or mother.

If you work for a church or a qualified church-controlled organization (other than as a minister, member of a religious order, or Christian Science practitioner) that elected an exemption from social security and Medicare taxes, you are subject to SE tax if you receive $108.28 or more in wages from the church or organization. For more information, see Pub. 517, Social Security and Other Information for Members of the Clergy and Religious Workers.

If you are a member of the crew on a boat that catches fish or other aquatic life, your earnings are subject to SE tax if all the following conditions apply.

You do not get any pay for the work except your share of the catch or a share of the proceeds from the sale of the catch, unless the pay meets all the following conditions.

The pay is not more than $100 per trip.

The pay is received only if there is a minimum catch.

The pay is solely for additional duties (such as mate, engineer, or cook) for which additional cash pay is traditional in the fishing industry.

You get a share of the catch or a share of the proceeds from the sale of the catch.

Your share depends on the amount of the catch.

The boat's operating crew normally numbers fewer than 10 individuals. (An operating crew is considered as normally made up of fewer than 10 if the average size of the crew on trips made during the last 4 calendar quarters is fewer than 10.)

Fees you receive for services you perform as a notary public are reported on Schedule C but are not subject to SE tax (see the Instructions for Schedule SE (Form 1040)).

You are subject to SE tax if you are an employee of a state or local government, are paid solely on a fee basis, and your services are not covered under a federal-state social security agreement.

You are subject to SE tax if both the following conditions are true.

You are a U.S. citizen employed in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the U.S. Virgin Islands by:

A foreign government,

A wholly owned agency of a foreign government, or

An international organization.

Your employer is not required to withhold social security and Medicare taxes from your wages.

If you are a self-employed U.S. citizen or resident alien living outside the United States, in most cases you must pay SE tax. Foreign earnings from self-employment can’t be reduced by your foreign earned income exclusion when computing self-employment tax.

The United States has social security agreements with many countries to eliminate double taxation under two social security systems. Under these agreements, you must generally only pay social security and Medicare taxes to the country in which you live. The country to which you must pay the tax will issue a certificate that serves as proof of exemption from social security tax in the other country.

For more information, see the Instructions for Schedule SE (Form 1040).

If you have earnings subject to SE tax from more than one trade, business, or profession, you must combine the net profit (or loss) from each to determine your total earnings subject to SE tax. A loss from one business reduces your profit from another business.

If any of the income from a trade or business, other than a partnership, is community property income under state law, it is included in the earnings subject to SE tax of the spouse carrying on the trade or business.

Do not include in earnings subject to SE tax a gain or loss from the disposition of property that is neither stock in trade nor held primarily for sale to customers. It does not matter whether the disposition is a sale, an exchange, or an involuntary conversion.

If you are self-employed and reduce or stop your business activities, any payment you receive from insurance or other sources for the lost business income is included in earnings subject to SE tax. If you are not working when you receive the payment, it still relates to your business and is included in earnings subject to SE tax, even though your business is temporarily inactive.

Figuring Earnings Subject to SE Tax

Methods for figuring net earnings.

There are three ways to figure net earnings from self-employment.

The regular method.

The nonfarm optional method.

The farm optional method.

You must use the regular method to the extent you do not use one or both of the optional methods.

You may want to use the optional methods (discussed later) when you have a loss or a small net profit and any one of the following applies.

You want to receive credit for social security benefit coverage.

You incurred child or dependent care expenses for which you could claim a credit. (An optional method may increase your earned income, which could increase your credit.)

You are entitled to the earned income credit. (An optional method may increase your earned income, which could increase your credit.)

You are entitled to the additional child tax credit. (An optional method may increase your earned income, which could increase your credit.)

Using an optional method could increase your SE tax. Paying more SE tax could result in your getting higher benefits when you retire.

Using the optional methods may also decrease your AGI due to the deduction for one-half of SE tax on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, which may affect your eligibility for credits, deductions, or other items that are subject to an AGI limit. Figure your AGI with and without using the optional methods to see if the optional methods will benefit you.

If you use either or both optional methods, you must figure and pay the SE tax due under these methods even if you would have had a smaller tax or no tax using the regular method.

The optional methods may be used only to figure your SE tax. To figure your income tax, include your actual earnings in gross income, regardless of which method you use to determine SE tax.

To figure net earnings using the regular method, multiply your self-employment earnings by 92.35% (0.9235). For your net earnings figured using the regular method, see line 4a of your Schedule SE (Form 1040).

Net earnings figured using the regular method are also called actual net earnings.

Nonfarm Optional Method

Use the nonfarm optional method only for earnings that do not come from farming. You may use this method if you meet all the following tests.

You are self-employed on a regular basis. This means that your actual net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more in at least 2 of the 3 tax years before the one for which you use this method. For this purpose, the prior-year net earnings can be from either farm or nonfarm earnings or both.

You have used this method less than 5 years. (There is a 5-year lifetime limit.) The years do not have to be one after another.

Your net nonfarm profits were:

Less than $7,103, and

Less than 72.189% of your gross nonfarm income.

Net nonfarm profit is generally the total of the amounts from:

Line 31 of Schedule C (Form 1040); and

Box 14, code A, of Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) (from nonfarm partnerships).

However, you may need to adjust the amount reported on Schedule K-1 if you are a general partner or if it is a loss.

Your gross nonfarm income is generally the total of the amounts from:

Line 7 of Schedule C (Form 1040); and

Box 14, code C, of Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) (from nonfarm partnerships).

Figuring Nonfarm Net Earnings

If you meet the three tests explained earlier, use the following table to figure your nonfarm net earnings from self-employment under the nonfarm optional method.

Table 10-1. Figuring Nonfarm Net Earnings

You cannot use this method to report an amount less than your actual nonfarm net earnings from self-employment. Your actual nonfarm net earnings are your nonfarm net earnings figured using the regular method, explained earlier.

The following examples illustrate how to figure net earnings when gross nonfarm income is $9,840 or less.

Example 1. Net nonfarm profit less than $7,103 and less than 72.189% of gross nonfarm income.

You run a craft business. Your actual net earnings from self-employment were $800 in 2021 and $900 in 2022. You meet the test for being self-employed on a regular basis. You have used the nonfarm optional method less than 5 years. Your gross income and net profit in 2023 are as follows.

Your actual net earnings for 2023 are $1,108 ($1,200 × 0.9235). Because your net profit is less than $7,103 and less than 72.189% of your gross income, you can use the nonfarm optional method to figure net earnings of $3,600 ( 2 / 3 × $5,400). Because these net earnings are higher than your actual net earnings, you can report net earnings of $3,600 for 2023.

Example 2. Net nonfarm profit less than $7,103 but not less than 72.189% of gross nonfarm income.

Assume that in Example 1 your gross income is $1,200 and your net profit is $900. You must use the regular method to figure your net earnings. You cannot use the nonfarm optional method because your net profit is not less than 72.189% of your gross income.

Example 3. Net loss from a nonfarm business.

Assume that in Example 1 you have a net loss of $700. You can use the nonfarm optional method and report $3,600 ( 2 / 3 × $5,400) as your net earnings.

Example 4. Nonfarm net earnings less than $400.

Assume that in Example 1 you have gross income of $525 and a net profit of $175. In this situation, you would not pay any SE tax under either the regular method or the nonfarm optional method because your net earnings under both methods are less than $400.

The following examples illustrate how to figure net earnings when gross nonfarm income is more than $9,840.

You run an appliance repair shop. Your actual net earnings from self-employment were $10,500 in 2021 and $9,500 in 2022. You meet the test for being self-employed on a regular basis. You have used the nonfarm optional method less than 5 years. Your gross income and net profit in 2023 are as follows.

Your actual net earnings for 2023 are $1,108 ($1,200 × 0.9235). Because your net profit is less than $7,103 and less than 72.189% of your gross income, you can use the nonfarm optional method to figure net earnings of $6,560. Because these net earnings are higher than your actual net earnings, you can report net earnings of $6,560 for 2023.

Example 2. Net nonfarm profit not less than $7,103.

Assume that in Example 1 your net profit is $8,900. You must use the regular method. You cannot use the nonfarm optional method because your net nonfarm profit is not less than $7,103.

Assume that in Example 1 you have a net loss of $700. You can use the nonfarm optional method and report $6,560 as your net earnings from self-employment.

Use the farm optional method only for earnings from a farming business. See Pub. 225 for information about this method.

Using Both Optional Methods

If you have both farm and nonfarm earnings, you may be able to use both optional methods to determine your net earnings from self-employment.

To figure your net earnings using both optional methods, you must do the following.

Figure your farm and nonfarm net earnings separately under each method. Do not combine farm earnings with nonfarm earnings to figure your net earnings under either method.

Add the net earnings figured under each method to arrive at your total net earnings from self-employment.

You are a self-employed farmer. You also operate a retail grocery store. Your gross income, actual net earnings from self-employment, and optional farm and optional nonfarm net earnings from self-employment are shown in Table 10-2.

Table 10-2. Example—Farm and Nonfarm Earnings

Table 10-3 shows four methods or combinations of methods you can use to figure net earnings from self-employment using the farm and nonfarm gross income and actual net earnings shown in Table 10-2.

Method 1. Using the regular method for both farm and nonfarm income.

Method 2. Using the optional method for farm income and the regular method for nonfarm income.

Method 3. Using the regular method for farm income and the optional method for nonfarm income.

Method 4. Using the optional method for both farm and nonfarm income.

Table 10-3. Example—Net Earnings

If you use a tax year other than the calendar year, you must use the tax rate and maximum earnings limit in effect at the beginning of your tax year. Even if the tax rate or maximum earnings limit changes during your tax year, continue to use the same rate and limit throughout your tax year.

Reporting SE Tax

Use Schedule SE (Form 1040) to figure and report your SE tax. If you file Form 1040 or 1040-SR, enter the SE tax on line 4 of Schedule 2 and attach Schedule SE to your form. If you file Form 1040-SS, enter the SE tax on line 3, and attach Schedule SE to your form.

Even if you file a joint return, you cannot file a joint Schedule SE. This is true whether one spouse or both spouses have earnings subject to SE tax. If both of you have earnings subject to SE tax, each of you must complete a separate Schedule SE. Attach both schedules to the joint return.

If you have more than one trade or business, you must combine the net profit (or loss) from each business to figure your SE tax. A loss from one business will reduce your profit from another business. File one Schedule SE showing the earnings from self-employment, but file a separate Schedule C or F for each business.

You are the sole proprietor of two separate businesses. You operate a restaurant that made a net profit of $25,000. You also have a cabinetmaking business that had a net loss of $500. You must file a Schedule C for the restaurant showing your net profit of $25,000 and another Schedule C for the cabinetmaking business showing your net loss of $500. You file one Schedule SE showing total earnings subject to SE tax of $24,500.

11. Your Rights as a Taxpayer

This chapter explains the examination, appeal, collection, and refund processes.

Examinations, Appeals, Collections, and Refunds

We accept most taxpayers' returns as filed. If we inquire about your return or select it for examination, it does not suggest that you are dishonest. The inquiry or examination may or may not result in more tax. We may close your case without change or you may receive a refund.

The process of selecting a return for examination usually begins in one of two ways. One way is to use computer programs to identify returns that may have incorrect amounts. These programs may be based on information returns, such as Forms 1099 and W-2; on studies of past examinations; or on certain issues identified by other special projects. Another way is to use information from compliance projects that indicates that a return may have incorrect amounts. These sources may include newspapers, public records, and individuals. If we determine that the information is accurate and reliable, we may use it to select a return for examination.

Pub. 556, Examination of Returns, Appeal Rights, and Claims for Refund, explains the rules and procedures that we follow in examinations. The following sections give an overview of how we conduct examinations.

We handle many examinations and inquiries by mail. We will send you a letter with either a request for more information or a reason why we believe a change to your return may be needed. You can respond by mail or you can request a personal interview with an examiner. If you mail us the requested information or provide an explanation, we may or may not agree with you, and we will explain the reasons for any changes. Do not hesitate to write to us about anything you do not understand.

If we notify you that we will conduct your examination through a personal interview, or you request such an interview, you have the right to ask that the examination take place at a reasonable time and place that is convenient for both you and the IRS. If our examiner proposes any changes to your return, they will explain the reasons for the changes. If you do not agree with these changes, you can meet with the examiner's supervisor.

If we examined your return for the same items in either of the 2 previous years and proposed no change to your tax liability, contact us as soon as possible so we can see if we should discontinue the examination.

If you do not agree with the examiner's proposed changes, you can appeal them to the IRS Independent Office of Appeals. Most differences can be settled without expensive and time-consuming court trials. Your appeal rights are explained in detail in both Pub. 5, Your Appeal Rights and How to Prepare a Protest if You Disagree, and Pub. 556.

If you do not wish to use the Appeals Office or disagree with its findings, you may be able to take your case to the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, or the U.S. District Court where you live. If you take your case to court, the IRS will have the burden of proving certain facts if you kept adequate records to show your tax liability, cooperated with the IRS, and meet certain other conditions. If the court agrees with you on most issues in your case and finds that our position was largely unjustified, you may be able to recover some of your administrative and litigation costs. You will not be eligible to recover these costs unless you tried to resolve your case administratively, including going through the appeals system, and you gave us the information necessary to resolve the case.

Pub. 594, The IRS Collection Process, explains your rights and responsibilities regarding payment of federal taxes. It describes the following.

What to do when you owe taxes. It describes what to do if you get a tax bill and what to do if you think your bill is wrong. It also covers making installment payments, delaying collection action, and submitting an offer in compromise.

IRS collection actions. It covers liens, releasing a lien, levies, releasing a levy, seizures and sales, and release of property.

IRS certification to the State Department of a seriously delinquent tax debt, which will generally result in denial of a passport application and may lead to revocation of a passport.

Your collection appeal rights are explained in detail in Pub. 1660, Collection Appeal Rights.

Generally, both you and your spouse are responsible, jointly and individually, for paying the full amount of any tax, interest, or penalties due on your joint return. To seek relief from any liability related to your spouse (or former spouse), you must file a claim on Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief. In some cases, Form 8857 may need to be filed within 2 years of the date on which the IRS first attempted to collect the tax from you. Do not file Form 8857 with your Form 1040 or 1040-SR. For more information, see Pub. 971, Innocent Spouse Relief, and Form 8857, or you can call the Innocent Spouse office toll free at 855-851-2009.

Generally, the IRS will deal directly with you or your duly authorized representative. However, we sometimes talk with other persons if we need information that you have been unable to provide, or to verify information we have received. If we do contact other persons, such as a neighbor, bank, employer, or employees, we will generally need to tell them limited information, such as your name. The law prohibits us from disclosing any more information than is necessary to obtain or verify the information we are seeking. Our need to contact other persons may continue as long as there is activity in your case. If we do contact other persons, you have a right to request a list of those contacted. Your request can be made by telephone, in writing, or during a personal interview.

You can file a claim for refund if you think you paid too much tax. You must generally file the claim within 3 years from the date you filed your original return or 2 years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later. Pub. 556 has more information on refunds.

If you were due a refund but you did not file a return, you must file a refund claim within 2 years from the time the tax was paid to get that refund. The law generally provides for interest on your refund if it is not paid within 45 days of the date you filed your return or claim for refund.

12. How To Get More Information

This section describes the help the IRS and other federal agencies offer to taxpayers who operate their own businesses.

How To Get Tax Help

If you have questions about a tax issue; need help preparing your tax return; or want to download free publications, forms, or instructions, go to IRS.gov to find resources that can help you right away.

After receiving all your wage and earnings statements (Forms W-2, W-2G, 1099-R, 1099-MISC, 1099-NEC, etc.); unemployment compensation statements (by mail or in a digital format) or other government payment statements (Form 1099-G); and interest, dividend, and retirement statements from banks and investment firms (Forms 1099), you have several options to choose from to prepare and file your tax return. You can prepare the tax return yourself, see if you qualify for free tax preparation, or hire a tax professional to prepare your return.

Your options for preparing and filing your return online or in your local community, if you qualify, include the following.

Free File. This program lets you prepare and file your federal individual income tax return for free using software or Free File Fillable Forms. However, state tax preparation may not be available through Free File. Go to IRS.gov/FreeFile to see if you qualify for free online federal tax preparation, e-filing, and direct deposit or payment options.

VITA. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program offers free tax help to people with low-to-moderate incomes, persons with disabilities, and limited-English-speaking taxpayers who need help preparing their own tax returns. Go to IRS.gov/VITA , download the free IRS2Go app, or call 800-906-9887 for information on free tax return preparation.

TCE. The Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program offers free tax help for all taxpayers, particularly those who are 60 years of age and older. TCE volunteers specialize in answering questions about pensions and retirement-related issues unique to seniors. Go to IRS.gov/TCE or download the free IRS2Go app for information on free tax return preparation.

MilTax. Members of the U.S. Armed Forces and qualified veterans may use MilTax, a free tax service offered by the Department of Defense through Military OneSource. For more information, go to MilitaryOneSource ( MilitaryOneSource.mil/MilTax ).

Also, the IRS offers Free Fillable Forms, which can be completed online and then e-filed regardless of income.

Go to IRS.gov/Tools for the following.

The Earned Income Tax Credit Assistant ( IRS.gov/EITCAssistant ) determines if you’re eligible for the earned income credit (EIC).

The Online EIN Application ( IRS.gov/EIN ) helps you get an employer identification number (EIN) at no cost.

The Tax Withholding Estimator ( IRS.gov/W4App ) makes it easier for you to estimate the federal income tax you want your employer to withhold from your paycheck. This is tax withholding. See how your withholding affects your refund, take-home pay, or tax due.

The First-Time Homebuyer Credit Account Look-up ( IRS.gov/HomeBuyer ) tool provides information on your repayments and account balance.

The Sales Tax Deduction Calculator ( IRS.gov/SalesTax ) figures the amount you can claim if you itemize deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040).

IRS.gov/Help : A variety of tools to help you get answers to some of the most common tax questions.

IRS.gov/ITA : The Interactive Tax Assistant, a tool that will ask you questions and, based on your input, provide answers on a number of tax topics.

IRS.gov/Forms : Find forms, instructions, and publications. You will find details on the most recent tax changes and interactive links to help you find answers to your questions.

You may also be able to access tax information in your e-filing software.

There are various types of tax return preparers, including enrolled agents, certified public accountants (CPAs), accountants, and many others who don’t have professional credentials. If you choose to have someone prepare your tax return, choose that preparer wisely. A paid tax preparer is:

Primarily responsible for the overall substantive accuracy of your return,

Required to sign the return, and

Required to include their preparer tax identification number (PTIN).

The Social Security Administration (SSA) offers online service at SSA.gov/employer for fast, free, and secure W-2 filing options to CPAs, accountants, enrolled agents, and individuals who process Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, and Form W-2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement.

Go to IRS.gov/SocialMedia to see the various social media tools the IRS uses to share the latest information on tax changes, scam alerts, initiatives, products, and services. At the IRS, privacy and security are our highest priority. We use these tools to share public information with you. Don’t post your social security number (SSN) or other confidential information on social media sites. Always protect your identity when using any social networking site.

The following IRS YouTube channels provide short, informative videos on various tax-related topics in English, Spanish, and ASL.

Youtube.com/irsvideos .

Youtube.com/irsvideosmultilingua .

Youtube.com/irsvideosASL .

The IRS Video portal ( IRSVideos.gov ) contains video and audio presentations for individuals, small businesses, and tax professionals.

You can find information on IRS.gov/MyLanguage if English isn’t your native language.

The IRS is committed to serving taxpayers with limited-English proficiency (LEP) by offering OPI services. The OPI Service is a federally funded program and is available at Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs), most IRS offices, and every VITA/TCE tax return site. The OPI Service is accessible in more than 350 languages.

Taxpayers who need information about accessibility services can call 833-690-0598. The Accessibility Helpline can answer questions related to current and future accessibility products and services available in alternative media formats (for example, braille, large print, audio, etc.). The Accessibility Helpline does not have access to your IRS account. For help with tax law, refunds, or account-related issues, go to IRS.gov/LetUsHelp .

Form 9000, Alternative Media Preference, or Form 9000(SP) allows you to elect to receive certain types of written correspondence in the following formats.

Standard Print.

Large Print.

Audio (MP3).

Plain Text File (TXT).

Braille Ready File (BRF).

Go to IRS.gov/DisasterRelief to review the available disaster tax relief.

Go to IRS.gov/Forms to view, download, or print all the forms, instructions, and publications you may need. Or, you can go to IRS.gov/OrderForms to place an order.

Download and view most tax publications and instructions (including the Instructions for Form 1040) on mobile devices as eBooks at IRS.gov/eBooks .

IRS eBooks have been tested using Apple's iBooks for iPad. Our eBooks haven’t been tested on other dedicated eBook readers, and eBook functionality may not operate as intended.

Go to IRS.gov/Account to securely access information about your federal tax account.

View the amount you owe and a breakdown by tax year.

See payment plan details or apply for a new payment plan.

Make a payment or view 5 years of payment history and any pending or scheduled payments.

Access your tax records, including key data from your most recent tax return, and transcripts.

View digital copies of select notices from the IRS.

Approve or reject authorization requests from tax professionals.

View your address on file or manage your communication preferences.

With an online account, you can access a variety of information to help you during the filing season. You can get a transcript, review your most recently filed tax return, and get your adjusted gross income. Create or access your online account at IRS.gov/Account .

This tool lets your tax professional submit an authorization request to access your individual taxpayer IRS online account. For more information, go to IRS.gov/TaxProAccount .

The safest and easiest way to receive a tax refund is to e-file and choose direct deposit, which securely and electronically transfers your refund directly into your financial account. Direct deposit also avoids the possibility that your check could be lost, stolen, destroyed, or returned undeliverable to the IRS. Eight in 10 taxpayers use direct deposit to receive their refunds. If you don’t have a bank account, go to IRS.gov/DirectDeposit for more information on where to find a bank or credit union that can open an account online.

Tax-related identity theft happens when someone steals your personal information to commit tax fraud. Your taxes can be affected if your SSN is used to file a fraudulent return or to claim a refund or credit.

The IRS doesn’t initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages (including shortened links), telephone calls, or social media channels to request or verify personal or financial information. This includes requests for personal identification numbers (PINs), passwords, or similar information for credit cards, banks, or other financial accounts.

Go to IRS.gov/IdentityTheft , the IRS Identity Theft Central webpage, for information on identity theft and data security protection for taxpayers, tax professionals, and businesses. If your SSN has been lost or stolen or you suspect you’re a victim of tax-related identity theft, you can learn what steps you should take.

Get an Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN). IP PINs are six-digit numbers assigned to taxpayers to help prevent the misuse of their SSNs on fraudulent federal income tax returns. When you have an IP PIN, it prevents someone else from filing a tax return with your SSN. To learn more, go to IRS.gov/IPPIN .

Download the official IRS2Go app to your mobile device to check your refund status.

Call the automated refund hotline at 800-829-1954.

Payments of U.S. tax must be remitted to the IRS in U.S. dollars. Digital assets are not accepted. Go to IRS.gov/Payments for information on how to make a payment using any of the following options.

IRS Direct Pay : Pay your individual tax bill or estimated tax payment directly from your checking or savings account at no cost to you.

Debit Card, Credit Card, or Digital Wallet : Choose an approved payment processor to pay online or by phone.

Electronic Funds Withdrawal : Schedule a payment when filing your federal taxes using tax return preparation software or through a tax professional.

Electronic Federal Tax Payment System : Best option for businesses. Enrollment is required.

Check or Money Order : Mail your payment to the address listed on the notice or instructions.

Cash : You may be able to pay your taxes with cash at a participating retail store.

Same-Day Wire : You may be able to do same-day wire from your financial institution. Contact your financial institution for availability, cost, and time frames.

The IRS uses the latest encryption technology to ensure that the electronic payments you make online, by phone, or from a mobile device using the IRS2Go app are safe and secure. Paying electronically is quick, easy, and faster than mailing in a check or money order.

Go to IRS.gov/Payments for more information about your options.

Apply for an online payment agreement ( IRS.gov/OPA ) to meet your tax obligation in monthly installments if you can’t pay your taxes in full today. Once you complete the online process, you will receive immediate notification of whether your agreement has been approved.

Use the Offer in Compromise Pre-Qualifier to see if you can settle your tax debt for less than the full amount you owe. For more information on the Offer in Compromise program, go to IRS.gov/OIC .

Go to IRS.gov/Form1040X for information and updates.

Go to IRS.gov/WMAR to track the status of Form 1040-X amended returns.

Go to IRS.gov/Notices to find additional information about responding to an IRS notice or letter.

You can now upload responses to all notices and letters using the Document Upload Tool. For notices that require additional action, taxpayers will be redirected appropriately on IRS.gov to take further action. To learn more about the tool, go to IRS.gov/Upload .

You can use Schedule LEP (Form 1040), Request for Change in Language Preference, to state a preference to receive notices, letters, or other written communications from the IRS in an alternative language. You may not immediately receive written communications in the requested language. The IRS’s commitment to LEP taxpayers is part of a multi-year timeline that began providing translations in 2023. You will continue to receive communications, including notices and letters, in English until they are translated to your preferred language.

Keep in mind, many questions can be answered on IRS.gov without visiting a TAC. Go to IRS.gov/LetUsHelp for the topics people ask about most. If you still need help, TACs provide tax help when a tax issue can’t be handled online or by phone. All TACs now provide service by appointment, so you’ll know in advance that you can get the service you need without long wait times. Before you visit, go to IRS.gov/TACLocator to find the nearest TAC and to check hours, available services, and appointment options. Or, on the IRS2Go app, under the Stay Connected tab, choose the Contact Us option and click on “Local Offices.”

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) Is Here To Help You

TAS is an independent organization within the IRS that helps taxpayers and protects taxpayer rights. TAS strives to ensure that every taxpayer is treated fairly and that you know and understand your rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights .

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights describes 10 basic rights that all taxpayers have when dealing with the IRS. Go to TaxpayerAdvocate.IRS.gov to help you understand what these rights mean to you and how they apply. These are your rights. Know them. Use them.

TAS can help you resolve problems that you can’t resolve with the IRS. And their service is free. If you qualify for their assistance, you will be assigned to one advocate who will work with you throughout the process and will do everything possible to resolve your issue. TAS can help you if:

Your problem is causing financial difficulty for you, your family, or your business;

You face (or your business is facing) an immediate threat of adverse action; or

You’ve tried repeatedly to contact the IRS but no one has responded, or the IRS hasn’t responded by the date promised.

TAS has offices in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico . To find your advocate’s number:

Go to TaxpayerAdvocate.IRS.gov/Contact-Us ;

Download Pub. 1546, The Taxpayer Advocate Service Is Your Voice at the IRS, available at IRS.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1546.pdf ;

Call the IRS toll free at 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676) to order a copy of Pub. 1546;

Check your local directory; or

Call TAS toll free at 877-777-4778.

TAS works to resolve large-scale problems that affect many taxpayers. If you know of one of these broad issues, report it to TAS at IRS.gov/SAMS . Be sure to not include any personal taxpayer information.

LITCs are independent from the IRS and TAS. LITCs represent individuals whose income is below a certain level and who need to resolve tax problems with the IRS. LITCs can represent taxpayers in audits, appeals, and tax collection disputes before the IRS and in court. In addition, LITCs can provide information about taxpayer rights and responsibilities in different languages for individuals who speak English as a second language. Services are offered for free or a small fee. For more information or to find an LITC near you, go to the LITC page at TaxpayerAdvocate.IRS.gov/LITC or see IRS Pub. 4134, Low Income Taxpayer Clinic List , at IRS.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4134.pdf .

Small Business Administration

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers training and educational programs, counseling services, financial programs, and contract assistance for small business owners. The SBA also has publications and videos on a variety of business topics. The following briefly describes assistance provided by the SBA.

SBDCs provide counseling, training, and technical services to current and prospective small business owners who cannot afford the services of a private consultant. Help is available when beginning, improving, or expanding a small business.

SCORE provides small business counseling and training to current and prospective small business owners. SCORE is made up of current and former business people who offer their expertise and knowledge to help people start, manage, and expand a small business. SCORE also offers a variety of small business workshops.

You can visit the SBA website at SBA.gov . While visiting the SBA website, you can find a variety of information of interest to small business owners.

Call the SBA Answer Desk at 800-U-ASK-SBA (800-827-5722) for general information about programs available to assist small business owners.

You can walk in to an SBDC to request assistance with your small business. To find the location nearest you, visit the SBA website or call the SBA Answer Desk.

Other Federal Agencies

Other federal agencies also publish publications and pamphlets to assist small businesses. Most of these are available from the Superintendent of Documents at the U.S. Government Publishing Office. You can get information and order these publications and pamphlets in several ways.

You can visit the GPO website at Catalog.GPO.gov .

Write to the GPO at the following address.

Call the GPO toll free at 866-512-1800 or at 202-512-1800 from the Washington, DC, area.

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IMAGES

All you Need to Know about Business Travel Expenses
How to Calculate Travel Expenses for Businesses
Get Your Free Excel Spreadsheet For Business Expenses [2023]
Travel Expenses Template Free Download
The 3 Most Common Business Travel Expenses Every Employee Should Be
Why Business Travel Expenses Are Higher in 2023 And How to Control Them

COMMENTS

Publication 463 (2023), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
other similar ordinary and necessary expenses related to your business travel. These expenses might include transportation to or from a business meal, public stenographer's fees, computer rental fees, and operating and maintaining a house trailer. ... For travel in 2023, the rate for most small localities in the United States is $59 per day.
IRS issues standard mileage rates for 2023; business use increases 3
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2023 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. Beginning on January 1, 2023, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:
How to Deduct Business Travel Expenses: Do's, Don'ts, Examples
To be able to claim all the possible travel deductions, your trip should require you to sleep somewhere that isn't your home. 2. You should be working regular hours. In general, that means eight hours a day of work-related activity. It's fine to take personal time in the evenings, and you can still take weekends off.
Special per diem rate for business travel rises
The special per diem rates by which taxpayers may substantiate ordinary and necessary business expenses of travel away from home will be higher starting Oct. 1, the IRS provided Monday in Notice 2023-68.. Generally, in lieu of actual lodging, meal, and incidental expenses incurred, a payer may consider substantiated, for federal tax purposes, an employee's expenses incurred for employment ...
Tax Deductions for Business Travelers
You can deduct business travel expenses when you are away from both your home and the location of your main place of business (tax home). Deductible expenses include transportation, baggage fees, car rentals, taxis and shuttles, lodging, tips, and fees. ... For 2023 the rate is 65.5 cents per mile. You also can add tolls and parking costs onto ...
Guide to Deducting Business Travel Expenses
Updated for tax year 2023. If you have to travel as part of being self-employed, you know traveling costs can add up fast. Fortunately, there are a few tax breaks available for deducting travel expenses. Follow this quick guide to learn how to lower your tax bill with business travel deductions. Business mileage vs. business travel expenses
IRS Updates 2023-2024 Per Diem Rates for Business Travel
The 2023-2024 rates take effect October 1st 2023. Per diem explained. Since business travelers have a lot of expenses to log (hotels, meals, etc.) the IRS allows employers to pay employees per diem rates, or daily allowances to compensate for meals, lodging, and incidental expenses (includes fees and tips paid to porters, baggage carriers ...
IRS Updates 2023-2024 Per Diem Rates for Business Travelers
Sep. 26, 2023. The IRS has released the special per diem rates for 2023-24 that take effect on Oct. 1, which taxpayers can use to substantiate the amount of expenses for lodging, meals, and ...
IRS Announces 2023-2024 Per Diem Rates For Taxpayers Who Travel For
As of October 1, 2023, the special meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) per diem rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry are $69 for any locality of travel in the continental United ...
New Business Travel Per Diem Rates Announced for 2023-2024
2023-2024 Rate Updates. The IRS updates the per diem rates every year. The 2023-2024 rates took effect Oct.1, 2023. They are as follows:* Travel to high-cost location is $309 ($297 prior year) Travel to other locations is $214 ($204 prior year) Incidental expense stay is the same at $5 per day, regardless of location
10 Tax Deductions for Travel Expenses (2023 Tax Year)
The IRS permits a 50% deduction of meal and hotel expenses for business travelers that are reasonable and not lavish. If no meal expenses are incurred, $5.00 daily can be deducted for incidental expenses. The federal meals and incidental expense per diem rate is what determines the standard meal allowance.
How to Deduct Travel Expenses (with Examples)
For example, let's say a hotel room for one person costs $100, but a hotel room that can accommodate your family costs $150. You can rent the $150 option and deduct $100 of the cost as a business expense—because $100 is how much you'd be paying if you were staying there alone.
Business travel costs are expected to rise through 2023, industry
The cost of business travel, from hotels to airfare, is set to rise through 2023 as demand returns more than two years after the Covid pandemic began, according to an industry report published ...
New Research: The State of Corporate Travel and Expense 2023
Corporate travel and expense (T&E) has started to look much different as companies renegotiate their policies in a new, unfamiliar business climate on this side of the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the ...
What Travel Expenses You Can (and Can't) Write Off
HAR's 2023 business travel expense list guides you on what travel expenses you can write off. Check our free PDF, a travel expense calculator, & expert advice! ... Business Travel Expense Scenarios for Travel Agents. When it comes to deducting any business travel expenses that are (in any way) attached to personal travel, the CPA/accountants I ...
PDF 2023 Business Travel Index Outlook
The 2023 GBTA BTI™ Outlook — Annual Global Report and Forecast is an exhaustive study of business travel spending and growth covering 72 countries across 44 industries. Now in its 15th edition, the report and companion database have become a critical planning tool
Your 2023 Tax Guide To Entertainment And Meal Deductions
Here are some of the most common exceptions that may still be tax deductible in 2023—expenses for events like the company holiday party or rewards trip; or costs tied to business meetings (think ...
New Business Travel Per Diem Rates Announced for 2023
Updated Rates. The IRS recently updated the per diem rates for business travel for fiscal year 2023, which started on October 1, 2022. Under the high-low method, the per diem rate for all high-cost areas within the continental United States is $297 for post-September 30, 2022, travel ($223 for lodging and $74 for meals and incidental expenses).
Mileage allowance: rates, calculations and reimbursement
Uncover the essentials of mileage allowance calculations and reimbursements for business travel. This guide provides detailed insights into mileage expense management, including calculation methods, required documentation, and tips for using Expensya to streamline the process. ... 2023) Administrative Power (in HP) Distance (d) up to 5000 km ...
New Study Shows Strong Demand for Business Travel in 2024
The '2024 Internova Index: North American Business Traveler Insights' report predicts a strong demand for business travel, with 85% of travelers expecting to travel as much or more in 2024 than in ...
US Airlines gain $7.8 billion in 2023, an increase over 2022
U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reported a 2023 after-tax net profit of $7.8 billion, and a pre-tax operating profit of $13.2 billion. U.S. airline financial reports are filed quarterly with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). See the tables that accompany this release on the BTS website for additional 2023 annual (Tables 1-6) and fourth-quarter (Tables 7-12) financial results.
2023-2024 Fiscal Close Procedures for Travel Accounting
Important Dates. Travel & entertainment expenses, including company card transactions for direct-billed airfare and service fees for trips concluded prior to June 1, must be received in the Concur Travel Accounting queue (reimbursements and direct billing) or the Travel Accounting office (vendor invoices) for processing by 5 p.m. Friday, June 7, to be processed for Fiscal Year 2023 ‐ 24.
Business travelers should check out these deductions before hitting the
IRS Tax Tip 2023-76, June 6, 2023. Many people travel for their job — some for an occasional conference and some travel year-round. Whatever their time on the road, business travelers should know how and when to deduct business travel expenses.. What to know about tax deductions for business travel
Ohio tourism brought in $56B in visitor spending in 2023
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Ohio tourism saw another increase in 2023, with overall tourists, spending and tourism related jobs up from 2022. According to Governor Mike DeWine, tourism in 2023 surpassed $56B in spending, surpassing pre-pandemic levels of $48B in 2019.
Publication 334 (2023), Tax Guide for Small Business
The maximum net self-employment earnings subject to the social security part of the self-employment tax is $168,600 for 2024. Standard mileage rate. For 2024, the standard mileage rate for the cost of operating your car, van, pickup, or panel truck for each mile of business use is 67 cents a mile.