|
Posted by ltsllc on March 10, 2007, 2:10 am
Please log in for more thread options katz....@gmail.com wrote:
>>> I greatly appreciate the opportunity to post this here, and
>>> for any insight folks might have!
>>>
>>> I own and operate a small business (S Corporation) writing
>>> grant proposals for various nonprofit groups and tax-exempt
>>> entities. I live in Denver. For six weeks, I am working
>>> remotely in San Diego, with a full office setup in a house
>>> that I am renting. I am seriously pursuing business leads
>>> this year, but for the first two weeks I was here I only had
>>> time to focus on keeping up with my Denver clients. I was
>>> reading the IRS' rules for travel, and guidance from non-IRS
>>> publications, but since my situation is somewhat unique it
>>> didn't answer my questions.
>>>
>>> 1) On deducting mileage for my travel from Denver to San
>>> Diego.... I'm not sure, but by the time I return to Denver
>>> it is likely that a majority of the days I will be here I
>>> will have either done work for my Denver clients, or not
>>> have had any contact with potential San Diego clients.
>>>
>>> Reading the IRS regulations, it sounded like you had to have
>>> a majority of your time dedicated to out-of-town business to
>>> write off transportation costs between your home city and
>>> the city you are visiting. Am I reading that correctly?
>>>
>>> 2) I met a woman the other day who could be a potential
>>> client, and started to do follow-up research for her
>>> organization the following day. If the research and work I
>>> do the following day doesn't put me in direct contact with
>>> the potential client, is that day's rent/per diem
>>> deductable? In other words, on the following day I wasn't
>>> in contact with them via phone or in-person, but I was doing
>>> some (uncompensated) legwork on their behalf that may lead
>>> to paying work.
>>>
>>> 3) I've arranged for meetings with potential clients via
>>> initial emails (an introductory email about who I am and
>>> stating that I'd like to meet with them and will follow up
>>> later with a phone call). Do I have to have a phone
>>> conversation or meeting to trigger the per diem/ rent write
>>> off?
>> It's kind of unclear why you went there when you did, and
>> that will determine whether all or part of the trip is
>> business deductible or not.
>>
>> What was the purpose of going when you did?
> Thanks for your reply to my post! While I didn't have a
> fixed schedule of meetings and business-related events in
> California at this time of the year, I have been wanting to
> expand and grow the business, and just decided to start
> reaching out and developing new contacts right now. Is it
> realistic to say that allocating six or seven weeks to build
> new contacts is legitmate, and would qualify as being "on
> assignment"?
Travel expenses are the ordinary and necessary expenses of
traveling away from your tax home for your busines,
You are traveling away from your tax home if your duties
require you to be away from the general area of your tax
home for a period substantially longer than an ordinary
day's work, and you need to get sleep or rest to meet the
demands of your work while away.
The "temporary assignment" you are talking about is used in
making a determination if you are away from your tax home or
not so as to prevent you from claiming you were traveling
and had travel expenses when actually you were working in
your tax home.
Denver is your tax home so the travel to San Diego is
deductible as long as it meets the requirements for the type
of travel expense and as long as they are ordinary and
necessary expenses for traveling away for your business.
More info here: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/ch01.html
Rudy
www.LizcanoTaxServicesLLC.com
Disclaimer: The posted answer is for educational purposes
only and Lizcano Tax Services, LLC and/or Rodolfo Lizcano
have not been engaged to render any tax, accounting, legal,
or other professional services.
<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are atwww.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap