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Business travel expenses: What’s deductible and how to claim
What's deductible, when a trip qualifies, the 50% meal rule, and how to claim them.
Business travel expenses are the ordinary and necessary costs of traveling away from your tax home for work, such as airfare, lodging, meals, and local transportation.
If you’re self-employed, you deduct them on Schedule C, while most employees can’t deduct unreimbursed travel, so they rely on their employer to pay them back.
This guide contains:
- When business travel expenses are tax-deductible
- What business travel expenses are deductible
- How to claim business travel expenses on your taxes
If your team travels internationally, Holafly for Business keeps employees online with secure mobile data.
Business travel made easy
When business travel expenses are tax-deductible
Your business travel expenses are deductible when the trip and each cost meet three IRS conditions:
- Away from your tax home: Your tax home is the city or general area of your main place of business, regardless of where your family lives.
- Longer than a workday: Your duties keep you away substantially longer than an ordinary day’s work, and you need sleep or rest to do your job, so a same-day trip doesn’t qualify for lodging or meals.
- Ordinary and necessary: The cost is common and accepted in your field, is helpful to your business, and isn’t lavish or personal.
What business travel expenses are deductible?
When a trip qualifies, the IRS lets you deduct the costs of getting to your destination, getting around, and staying there for work.
Here’s how they break down:
| Expense | Examples | What you can deduct |
|---|---|---|
| Transportation to your destination | Airfare, train, bus, or car travel between your tax home and your destination | Your cost |
| Local transportation | Taxis and rideshares between the airport, your hotel, and work locations | Your cost |
| Car use | A rental car or your own car with business parking and tolls | Actual expenses for a rental car, or actual expenses vs. the standard mileage rate for your own vehicle (business share only) |
| Lodging | Hotels and short-term rentals for business nights | Your cost (as long as it isn’t lavish or extravagant) |
| Meals | Food while you’re away overnight | 50% of the cost (or 50% of the standard meal allowance) |
| Baggage and shipping | Baggage fees, along with samples or display materials sent between work locations | Your cost |
| Laundry and dry cleaning | Laundry and dry cleaning during the trip | Your cost |
| Business calls | Business calls and internet access fees during the trip | Your cost |
| Tips | Tips for any of the services above | Your cost |
| Other costs | Transportation to a business meal, computer rental fees | Your cost |
Meals and the standard meal allowance
You can generally deduct 50% of the cost of your meals, regardless of how you track them. Yet, entertainment (e.g., taking a client to a sporting event) isn’t deductible.
Instead of saving meal receipts, you can use the standard meal allowance, which varies by location. While self-employed taxpayers can claim this deduction, most W-2 employees can’t deduct unreimbursed meal expenses unless they qualify under specific IRS exceptions (such as eligible reservists or performing artists). For those eligible to claim it without reimbursement, the 50% limit applies.
However, you need to record when, where, and why you traveled, and on the days you leave and return, you can claim 3/4 of the daily rate.
Car and mileage expenses
If you drive for business, you can deduct either your actual car costs (e.g., gas, repairs, insurance, depreciation) for the business share, or a flat rate for each business mile with business parking and tolls.
The IRS set the 2026 standard mileage rate at 72.5 cents per mile from January 1 to June 30 and 76 cents per mile from July 1 to December 31.
To use the standard rate on a car you own, you must choose it in the first year the car is available for use in your business (though you can switch to actual expenses in later years). For a leased vehicle, you must use the standard mileage rate for the entire lease period if chosen in the first year.
If you rent a car, you can’t use the standard mileage rate and can deduct only the business-use portion of actual expenses.
How to deduct trips that mix business and vacation
For a US trip that’s primarily for business, you can deduct the full cost of getting there and back, but lodging and meals only for your business days. Generally, a trip counts as primarily for business when you spend more time on business activities than on personal ones.
For example, say you fly to Denver for a three-day trade show and stay two extra days to ski. You can deduct the full cost of the round-trip flight and lodging (only for the three show nights), plus 50% of the cost of meals for the three show days.
If the trip is primarily personal, the IRS treats the entire cost as a personal expense, although you can still deduct the costs at your destination that relate to your business.
Business trips outside the US
For a trip abroad that’s primarily for business but includes personal days, you generally deduct only the business share of your round-trip fare, whereas lodging and 50% of meals still count only for your business days.
The trip counts as entirely for business, without splitting the fare, if any of these apply:
- No substantial control over arranging the trip
- One week or less outside the US (i.e., seven consecutive days, not counting the day you leave but counting the day you return)
- Less than 25% of your time abroad spent on personal activities (counting both departure and return days)
- Vacation not a major consideration in making the trip
If you’re self-employed, the first exception won’t usually apply, as the IRS states that a self-employed person generally has substantial control over arranging business trips.
How to claim business travel expenses on your taxes
Where you claim business travel expenses depends on how you work:
- Self-employed: Schedule C (Form 1040), or Schedule F (Form 1040) if you’re a farmer
- Partnerships and S corporations: The business’s own tax return (Form 1065 for partnerships or Form 1120-S for S corporations)
- Employees in a few eligible roles: Form 2106 (e.g., Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists)
To calculate the amount you can write off, add up each category, apply the 50% limit to meals, and multiply your business miles by the rate for the period you drove them (plus any business parking and tolls).
For example, an August 2026 trip with a $450 flight, a $600 hotel bill, $200 in meals (counted as $100), and 100 miles driven to and from the airport at 76 cents a mile ($76) adds up to a $1,226 deduction.
How to document business travel expenses
For each expense, Publication 463 requires you to prove the amount, the time, the place, and the business purpose.
For receipts, the IRS states that you aren’t required to keep a receipt if your expense, other than lodging, is less than $75. So, keep receipts for every hotel stay and for any other expense of $75 or more. The IRS also asks you to keep records for at least three years from the date you file your tax return, or six years if you didn’t report income exceeding 25% of the gross income shown on your return.
These five habits keep your records ready for tax time:
- Pay with a business card to keep business and personal costs apart.
- Log each expense on the day it happens (or near the time of travel).
- Note the business purpose on the receipt or in your log.
- Sort expenses into categories (e.g., transportation, lodging, meals).
- Photograph receipts with an expense app (e.g., Expensify, QuickBooks, FreshBooks).
Check our guide to travel and expense reporting to learn more.
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Holafly Plans for Business come in four tiers, all featuring hotspot, 4G/5G, and 24/7 multilingual support:
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Not sure which plan is right for your team? Book a demo.
Business travel made easy
FAQ
Business travel expenses that aren’t deductible include personal or lavish and extravagant costs, commuting to your regular workplace, entertainment, lodging and meals on the personal days of a mixed trip, and the nondeductible 50% portion of business meals.
You generally can’t deduct travel costs for a spouse, dependent, or family member unless that person is your employee, has a bona fide business purpose for the trip, and could otherwise claim the deduction. You can still deduct what the trip would’ve cost you if you’d traveled alone, such as the single-room rate at your hotel.
Driving from a home office to a client is deductible if your home is your principal place of business and the client’s site is another work location in the same trade or business.
You can save money on business travel by setting spending limits in a travel policy, booking in advance, and planning trips against a corporate travel budget. Knowing how to get hotel corporate rates can also lower the cost of frequent trips.
I’m a writer with over eight years of experience in digital content. My work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Forbes, Business Insider, and the BBC. At Holafly, I write clear, practical guides to help travelers stay connected with eSIM technology. In my spare time, I enjoy car detailing, biking around Warsaw, and capturing portraits.
