what are travel expenses 
for tax purposes travel expenses are costs associated with traveling to conduct business related activities reasonable travel expenses can generally be deducted from taxable income by a company when its employees incur costs while traveling away from home specifically for business that business can include conferences or meetings understanding travel expensesthe internal revenue service irs considers employees to be traveling if their business obligations require them to be away from their tax home the area where their main place of business is located for substantially longer than an ordinary workday and they need to get sleep or rest to meet the demands of their work while away well organized records such as receipts canceled checks and other documents that support a deduction can help you get reimbursed by your employer and can help your employer prepare tax returns examples of travel expenses can include travel expenses do not include regular commuting costs 2individual wage earners can no longer deduct unreimbursed business expenses that deduction was one of many eliminated by the tax cuts and jobs act of 2017 3while many travel expenses can be deducted by businesses those that are deemed unreasonable lavish or extravagant or expenditures for personal purposes may be excluded types of travel expensestypes of travel expenses can include the use of a personal vehicle in conjunction with a business trip including actual mileage tolls and parking fees can be included as a travel expense the cost of using rental vehicles can also be counted as a travel expense though only for the business use portion of the trip for instance if in the course of a business trip you visited a family member or acquaintance the cost of driving from the hotel to visit them would not qualify for travel expense deductions 4travel expenses incurred while on an indefinite work assignment that lasts more than one year are not deductible for tax purposes 5the irs allows other types of ordinary and necessary expenses to be treated as related to business travel for deduction purposes such expenses can include transport to and from a business meal the hiring of a public stenographer payment for computer rental fees related to the trip and the shipment of luggage and display materials used for business presentations travel expenses can also include operating and maintaining a house trailer as part of the business trip 1can i deduct my business travel expenses business travel expenses can no longer be deducted by individuals if you are self employed or operate your own business you can deduct those ordinary and necessary business expenses from your return 1if you work for a company and are reimbursed for the costs of your business travel your employer will deduct those costs at tax time 