My wife and myself are traveling abroad on a tour for our business in 2018. I want to know how to document and the per diem rate we both can take for expenses.

[tommy985]

We will travel to Ireland for 10 days, document the travel and food experiences, take photos for out online food and travel media company and would like to deduct as much of the trip as possible. Where can I get the rates the 2 of us can deduct?

[TaxGuyBill]

If it is a valid deduction, you can find the meal Per Diem rates here:
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp">https://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp</a>

However, this situation is often abused and often the IRS and Tax Court denies the deduction.  You need to establish that the MAJORITY of your time was for business purposes, and that you expect the business income will increase noticeably from this travel (business income will increase more than all of the cost of the trip).

[tommy985]

Our business is creating online content for our website.  We will document each town and restaurants, recipes, create a full date stamped photo journal with professional photos etc. The majority of each day will be gathering content.  In your professional opinion would this qualify.  Revenue is hard to measure exactly but has been increasing year over year.

[TaxGuyBill]

I can't make that decision, but I lean towards "no".

Although you have an established business (which is good), the business is about ethic food, not travel (which is bad).   Although you say the majority of each day will be gathering content (which is good), is that content actually going to boost your website income by at least that amount?  Without know the specifics of your business, I would guess not.

Again, I can't make the decision, and I don't have the time to research the relevant IRS and Court rulings, but just be aware that in this type of situation, the IRS and Courts typically rule it as not deductible unless you can solidly prove it otherwise.

[SweetieJean]

Please remove your internet site name, as advertising is not permitted  here. If the site is not yet up and running, be aware that Start Up expenses can't be deducted until it is.

[SweetieJean]

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericgoldman/2015/08/14/travel-blogger-denied-tax-writeoff-for-european-...>

[tommy985]

The article above is interesting but he had no site or running business with revenue. Our site and been running since 2013, has revenue streams and makes a profit.  I am trying to get a consensus on possibly how much I can deduct if not the full per diem amount. Are we able to deduct 25% or 50% as a reasonable about of the daily per diem amount?  I would think there are clearer rules on this but most answers have been general in nature.  Where can I get an expert CPA's opinion on this, when I file my 2018 taxes?

[TaxGuyBill]

If it is a business trip, you deduct all of the Per Diem.  If it is not a business trip, none of it would be deductible.

[MinhT · Accepted solution]

You can get the per diem for all foreign countries by visiting the following page:

https://www.irs.gov/faqs/small-business-self-employed-other-business/income-expenses/income-expenses...