No, unfortunately. You had no clear business purpose for the trip. The fact that you helped out the tour guide does not give it a business purpose
Business-related
foreign travel expenses are tax deductible. However, because of the potential
for abuse (e.g., sneaking in a Paris vacation under the guise of a business
trip), these expenses are scrutinized closely by the IRS.
Good
documentation is an absolute must. If you travel outside the U.S. purely for
business purposes, all your travel expenses of getting to and from your
business destination are deductible. However, if you spend part of your time in
a foreign country engaging in personal activities, you may have to allocate
your travel expenses and only deduct the amounts allocated to business.
Foreign travel expenses
are fully deductible if you spent 100 percent of your time abroad on business.
However, if you engaged in any non-business activity, whether sightseeing or
visiting old friend, you may have to make an allocation between deductible
business expenses and non-deductible personal ones.
If you spend part of
your time in a foreign country engaging in personal activities, you may have to
allocate your travel expenses in proportion to the number of days you spent on
nonbusiness activities during your trip, unless you meet one of the
following conditions:
- Less than one week outside the
US. You
were outside the U.S. for a week or less, combining business and personal
activities (a week is seven consecutive days - not counting the day you
leave the U.S., but counting the day you return to the U.S.).
- Less than 25 percent of time on
personal activities.You were outside the U.S. for more than a week, but you
spent less than 25 percent of the total time you were in a foreign country
on personal activities (counting both the day your trip began and the day
it ended).
-
Vacation was not a consideration. You can
establish that a personal vacation was not a major consideration.
If you
meet one or more of these conditions, your trip is considered to be entirely
for business. This means you can deduct all of your business-related travel
expenses.
