Travel for Maintenance of Short Term Rental

[peteZ88]

My spouse and I own a short term rental 300 miles away.  We travel there periodically mainly to maintain the property.  Mileage is obviously deductable at the standard mileage rate.  When it comes to food, can I deduct two times the standard perdiem allowance for the travel days and the days we were working at the property? 

I already know that 50% of the time must be spent working on the property for the trip to be considered work related.  I assume that means at least 4 hours a day for each of us.  I would guess if one of us works 6 hours and one of us works 2 hours then only the person working 6 hours would get the perdiem for that day.  Is this correct?   Or is it allowable to just estimate for the whole trip that person A spent 60% of the time on work related activities and therefore gets to deduct 60% of the daily allowance.    Or do they get the whole perdiem for the trip since they worked >50% of the time.   I'm confused on this prorating of the perdiem and mileage.

For the mileage, if 75% of the time was spent on work related activities, then do I need to prorate the mileage also?

If I stop 1/2 way to visit a parent for a few days, do I need to make sure that the days spent there are less than the days spent working.  Alternatively, can I start the business trip at the parent's house on the day I depart from their house and just claim the mileage from their house to the vacation property?

[DianeW777 · Accepted solution]

It depends. If you are referring to the standard meal allowance (SMA), also known as the meal and incidental expense rate (ME&I). And if the rental property is in both names (taxpayer and spouse) and your spouse also does work on the rental property also, then you can count the meals for both of you. See the calculation for the amount for the day of arrival and the day of departure below. There is no 'per diem' allowed for rental activities or self employment. 

You can use your actual receipts or the standard meal allowance and the deduction is limited to 50%. See the information in IRS Publication 463.

• The standard meal allowance is the federal M&IE rate. For travel through September 30, 2024, the rate for most small localities in the United States was $59 per day. Afterwards, it increased to $68 per day.

Travel for days you depart and return. Calculation for those days.

For both the day you depart for and the day you return from a business trip, you must prorate the standard meal allowance (figure a reduced amount for each day). You can do so by one of two methods.

Method 1: You can claim 3/4 of the standard meal allowance.

Method 2: You can prorate using any method that you consistently apply and that is in accordance with reasonable business practice.

See the information provided in your other post in relationship to making decisions about mileage when making personal stops along the way either going or returning to your home, as well as time spent in each activity. The main purpose of the trip and the time allocated to each will be a factor for each trip you make when deciding on the mileage and meal allowances.