Tax Year Prior to 2020: Where do I enter per diem expenses when on out of town self employed business travel?

[KarenL2]

Per Diem goes in the Meals and Entertainment area.  While inside the software and working on your return, type Schedule C in the Search at the top of the screen (you may see a magnifying glass there).  There will be a popup that says Jump to Schedule C.  Select that to get to the general area. 

• then, Business Income and Expenses
• select Edit next to your business (if it is there)
• scroll to Business Expenses
• then, Other Common Business Expenses
• select that, then on the next screen you will see Meals and Entertainment

You can find the current Per Diem rates for the location to which you traveled at this link http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/104877.  Remember to select the correct tax year (2016) from the drop down menu.

[seanstanton]

I am self employed. I was hired for a 2 month contract on a W2 in Colorado but I live in Illinois. Housing was provided by the company. Where and how can I deduct my meals and Incidentals? Can I use the per diem amount? If so, where does this go? 

[AnnetteB6]

If you were doing the work in Colorado while being paid with a W-2, then you were considered an employee during that time, not self-employed.  This would mean that the expenses you incurred for meals and incidentals are employee business expenses, which are no longer deductible as part of your Federal tax return.  This change was implemented as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  

Certain states do allow you to deduct employee business expenses as part of your state return.  To be sure whether your state is one of these, you should enter the expenses into your Federal return so that they can be carried to your state if needed.  You can search for '2106' to go to the correct section to enter the expenses.  

Had these expenses been incurred as part of your self-employed business, then you would be able to use the per diem amount for meals and incidental expenses and they would be claimed in the section as described in the previous post by user KarenL2.  

Take a look at the following TurboTax article for more details:  Can employees deduct any job-related expenses?

[acls2x2x]

This sound obvious but do you enter values for the both the first and last day of travel

meaning if I travel Monday stay tues and return Wed. I enter the travel day per diem twice and the full day rat once . For nstance  if my full day rate is $56 and the travel day rate is 42.... I enter 42+42 + 56 for the trip

[acls2x2x]

Also if i am traveling form one location to another (not going home) do i use the full day for my origin site or destination site (they are only 1 dollar apart)

[DianeC958]

You can average the two amounts together or there is the standard rate you can use no matter where you go in the United States of $66 per pay for meals and incidentals.

Link to per diem rates for 2019

@acls2x2x

[acls2x2x]

You just enter your total per diem for the year into the tax form and keep the accounting records yourself...not separately for each trip..right? I have only had a couple expensable trips in the past but this year I have 33

[ColeenD3]

@acls2x2x

Yes, you enter the total and keep the backup in your records.