20.29 Reporting T&E Expenses If You Are Self-Employed

You must keep travel and entertainment (T&E) records in accordance with IRS rules (20.28). You may claim the meal allowance (20.4) on overnight business trips. The reimbursement rules (20.31) do not apply to you.

In preparing your tax return, you report your expenses on the appropriate lines of Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (40.6). You do not use Form 2106. An advantage of reporting on Schedule C (or C-EZ) is that your travel and entertainment expenses (T&E) are not subject to the 2% adjusted gross income (AGI) floor. Only 50% of meals and entertainment costs are deductible, but there are exceptions (20.25).

Get J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2013: For Preparing Your 2012 Tax Return now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.