Business travel deductions for the self-employed

Business travel is a trip that your work makes you take away from home, for long enough that you need to sleep or rest before you continue. If you work for yourself, you can deduct the costs of that travel from your business income.

The rules are in chapter 1 of IRS Publication 463. They depend on two ideas: where your “tax home” is, and what “away” means.

The short version

• You can deduct travel when work keeps you away from your tax home longer than a normal work day and you need to sleep or rest (Publication 463).
• You can deduct fares or car costs, lodging, local transport, baggage, laundry and similar costs.
• Meals on the trip are usually only 50% deductible.
• On a US trip that is mainly for business, the fare is fully deductible. The costs of your personal days are not.
• Keep the hotel bill and a note of the dates, place and business purpose.

Words to know

Tax home. Your regular place of business, and the whole city or area around it. This is true wherever your family lives. If you have more than one place of business, it is your main one.

Away from home. Your work keeps you out of that area for substantially longer than an ordinary day’s work, and you need to sleep or rest to do the work. You do not need to be away a full day, but a nap in the car does not count.

Temporary. Work in one place that you realistically expect to last one year or less, and that does last one year or less. If you expect it to last longer, that place becomes your tax home, and your costs there are personal.

What you can deduct

The costs must be ordinary and necessary for your business. Common ones are:

• Getting there: plane, train or bus fares, or your car costs. See what a mileage log needs if you drive, and use the mileage deduction calculator to see what the miles are worth.
• Getting around: taxis, rideshares and shuttles between the airport, hotel and work sites.
• Staying: lodging for the nights that the work needs.
• Eating: 50% of meals.
• Other: baggage, shipping of equipment, laundry and dry cleaning, business calls, and tips on these costs.

On Schedule C, lodging and transportation for overnight travel go on line 24a, and the deductible part of meals goes on line 24b (Schedule C instructions). For the general test of a deductible cost, see what counts as a business expense.

Meals: receipts or a daily rate

You can figure travel meals in two ways:

1. Keep the receipts and deduct 50% of the actual cost.
2. Use the standard meal allowance. This is the federal daily rate for meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) at the place where you stay. You deduct 50% of it.

Publication 463 says the self-employed can use the standard meal allowance. You look up the rate for your destination on the GSA per diem rates page. On the days you leave and return, you must reduce the rate. One method is to use 3/4 of the daily rate.

There is no standard amount for lodging. You deduct your actual hotel cost. If you pay for no meals on a travel day, you can deduct $5 for incidental expenses only, such as tips to hotel staff (Publication 463).

Personal days on a work trip

Inside the United States. If the trip is mainly for business, you can deduct the full cost to get there and back, plus your business costs at the destination. The extra days for yourself are personal. If the trip is mainly personal, you cannot deduct the fare at all. You can still deduct costs at the destination that are directly for business.

Outside the United States. The rules are stricter. The trip counts as entirely for business if one of a few exceptions applies. Two of them are:

• you were outside the United States for a week or less (7 days in a row; do not count the day you leave, but count the day you return), or
• you spent less than 25% of the time on personal activities.

If no exception applies, you can usually deduct only the business share of the fare. Publication 463 explains how to count the days.

An example

Nina is a freelance photographer based in Denver. (She is an example, not a real person.) She has a two-day shoot in Chicago. She flies out Monday, shoots Tuesday and Wednesday, and stays until Friday to see friends.

The trip is mainly for business, so the flight is fully deductible. The hotel and meals for her personal days are not. Meals on her business days are 50% deductible.

Records

Publication 463 asks you to show the amount of each cost, the dates you left and returned, the business days, the destination and the business purpose. You must generally keep documentary evidence, such as receipts or bills. You always need it for lodging. You need it for other costs of $75 or more. See do I need to keep receipts and how to track business expenses for taxes.

A short note in your calendar helps: “Chicago, Mon to Wed: shoot for a client; Thu to Fri personal.”

A Righto tip

Receipts get lost on trips, so record them during the trip. Righto keeps your books on your Mac. You can categorize each charge on the evening you get it. Put personal costs paid with business money in Owner Draw, so they stay off your Profit and Loss. You can also ask your own AI agent, such as Claude Code, what the trip has cost so far. See how agents work with Righto.

Common questions

Can I deduct a one-day trip to a client? You can deduct the transportation. A meal alone on a same-day trip is personal, because you did not need to sleep or rest away from home.

Can I deduct the costs of a spouse who comes with me? Usually not. The person must be your employee, have a real business purpose for the trip, and be able to deduct the travel themselves.

Can I use the federal lodging rate? No. Self-employed people deduct the actual lodging cost.

What to do now

1. Before you book, write down the business purpose and the business days.
2. If you add personal days, check that the trip is still mainly for business.
3. For a trip abroad, check the one-week and 25% rules.
4. Keep the hotel bill, the fare receipt and your note together.
5. Record each cost in your books during the trip.

Righto is free, easy to use and needs no account.

Sources

• Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses, IRS
• Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) (2025), IRS
• Per diem rates, U.S. General Services Administration