If your travel expenses are qualifying because you meet the rules, you are allowed to deduct the cost of staying there over the weekend or the cost of going home whichever is less.
I have included details about allowable employee business expenses reported on Form 2106.
Tax Home -To determine whether you are traveling away from home, you must first determine the location of your tax home.
- Generally, your tax home is your regular place of business or
post of duty, regardless of where you maintain your family home. It
includes the entire city or general area in which your business or work
is located.
- If you have more than one regular place of business, your tax home is your main place of business.
- If you do not have a regular or a main place of business because of
the nature of your work, then your tax home may be the place where you
regularly live. See Employee Business
Expense-Tax Home and Main Place of Business
If
you do not have a regular or a main place of business or post of duty
and there is no place where you regularly live, you are considered an
itinerant (a transient) and your tax home is wherever you work. As an itinerant, you cannot claim a travel expense deduction because you are never considered to be traveling away from home.
Traveling Away From Home -You are traveling away from home if:
Your duties require you to be away from the general area of your tax home substantially longer than an ordinary day's work, and
You need to sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away from home.
This rest requirement is not satisfied by merely napping in your car. You
do not have to be away from your tax home for a whole day or from dusk
to dawn as long as your relief from duty is long enough to get necessary
sleep or rest.
Attached is a chart of deductible expenses and the link above gives more detail for expense information.
As an employee the expenses can be used on itemized deductions as
employee business expense limited to the amount that is over 2% of your
adjusted gross income.
Job-related expenses are reported on Form 2106 (Employee Business Expenses).
- Open (continue) your return in TurboTax.
- In the search box, search for 2106 and then click the "Jump to" link in the search results.
- At the Tell us about the occupation you have expenses for screen, enter your occupation.
- Click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.
If you land on the Job-Related Expenses Summary screen instead, you can either Edit expenses for an existing job or click Add Another Occupation to enter expenses for a new one.
Tip: If the only work-related use of your car is
commuting back and forth between your home and main workplace, do not
enter any vehicle mileage or expenses. The IRS doesn't let employees deduct commuting costs.
