Your Trip Must Be for Business

Your trip must be primarily for business to be deductible, and you must have a business intent and purpose before leaving on the trip. You have a business purpose if the trip benefits your business in some way. Examples of business purposes include:

-finding new clients, patients, or new markets for your services

-dealing with existing clients or patients

-learning new skills to help in your practice

-contacting people who could help your practice, such as potential investors, or

-checking out what the competition is doing.

It’s not sufficient merely to claim that you had a business purpose for your trip. You must be able to prove this by showing that you spent at least part of the time engaged in business activities while at your destination. Acceptable business activities include:

-visiting or working with existing or potential clients or patients, and

-attending professional seminars or conventions where the agenda is clearly connected to your practice.

On the other hand, business activities do not include:

-sightseeing

-recreational activities that you attend by yourself or with family or friends, or

-attending personal investment seminars or political events.

Use common sense when deciding whether to claim that a trip is for business. If you’re audited, the IRS will likely question any trip that doesn’t have some logical connection to your existing professional practice.