In my opinion, travel is one of the most underutilized tax deductions by small business owners today!!

Making sure our travel has a ‘business purpose’ is critical and a perfect opportunity for business owners for a great tax write-off. In fact, even properly planned holiday travel can potentially generate significant tax deductions while we are visiting family or going to our special/romantic locations around the U.S. and the world. Even if we gain a few pounds, we might shed a few tax dollars.

Unlike meals and entertainment, which are limited by 50%, travel expenses are 100% deductible. These include airfare, hotel, rental cars, valet, taxi, trains, tolls, etc. You would be shocked to know how many new clients’ tax returns come across my desk every year with literally zero travel deductions. Consider the 5 following ideas that you might be able to coordinate with or plan ‘in and around’ your personal travel.

1. Company Annual Meeting.  If you have a corporation, this would be considered your Board of Directors Meeting and Shareholders Meeting.  If you have an LLC, elect a Board of Advisors to assist the Manager or Managers of the Company.  This is an excellent opportunity to discuss the operations of the company over the past year.  Profits, losses, acquisitions, new ventures, goal setting…utilize the advice of your board members and make plans for the next year.
   
   
2. Visit a client.  Wherever you are traveling to, is there a customer or client in the area?  Could you cultivate a new relationship or strengthen a current one.  Schedule meetings each day you are traveling, at least for a few hours, and keep notes of what you accomplish and why the meeting was important.
   
   
3. Visit a vendor.  Is there a vendor or supplier, sub-contractor or affiliate you could meet with where grandma or grandpa lives?  Could you negotiate new pricing, tour a facility, talk about networking and how you could work more closely together.  The tax write-off may even be simply a bonus when you consider the business you could generate with a strategic meeting that produces more revenue for the business.
   
   
4. Attend a conference or workshop.  Look at possible workshops in the local area where you are visiting.  Consider classes tax, legal, business, marketing, website, SEO, customer relationship, or technical training based on your type of business.  At the very least, visit a local real estate or investment club meeting if possible.  The training could be fantastic and justify a great write-off to boot.
   
   
5. Check on your rental property.  I’ve said it time and time again.  At least consider and/or attempt to purchase rentals where you travel.  More specifically, could you buy rentals where the extended family live.  Have them help manage your properties or simply work on them while you are visiting.  Sometimes, it’s a great excuse to get out of family functions to have to leave and work on the ‘rental’- just saying.
   
   

The list goes on and on; it just doesn’t make sense for any business owner to not have at least some travel expenses.

Keep in mind that travel days include the ‘day’ you get there, the ‘day’ you do business, and the ‘day’ you travel back home! Thus, a properly planned 3 day trip, with a legitimate business purpose, could be coordinated with some personal relaxation or fun and still be a 100% tax write-off.

With all of these strategies, moderation is key.  Make sure that you are doing business each day ‘you aren’t traveling’ and keep records of what you are doing, who you are meeting with, and how it relates to your business.  As usual, the more money you make in your business, the more opportunity we have to be aggressive and take a larger deduction.  Don’t get greedy.  Keep your receipts, records and discuss the expenses with your CPA at the end of the year in order to report a well-balanced tax return.  As I have said many times before… Pigs get Fat and Hogs get Slaughtered.