travel expenses claim definition

How to Deduct Travel Expenses (with Examples)

Reviewed by

November 3, 2022

This article is Tax Professional approved

Good news: most of the regular costs of business travel are tax deductible.

Even better news: as long as the trip is primarily for business, you can tack on a few vacation days and still deduct the trip from your taxes (in good conscience).

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Even though we advise against exploiting this deduction, we do want you to understand how to leverage the process to save on your taxes, and get some R&R while you’re at it.

Follow the steps in this guide to exactly what qualifies as a travel expense, and how to not cross the line.

The travel needs to qualify as a “business trip”

Unfortunately, you can’t just jump on the next plane to the Bahamas and write the trip off as one giant business expense. To write off travel expenses, the IRS requires that the primary purpose of the trip needs to be for business purposes.

Here’s how to make sure your travel qualifies as a business trip.

1. You need to leave your tax home

Your tax home is the locale where your business is based. Traveling for work isn’t technically a “business trip” until you leave your tax home for longer than a normal work day, with the intention of doing business in another location.

2. Your trip must consist “mostly” of business

The IRS measures your time away in days. For a getaway to qualify as a business trip, you need to spend the majority of your trip doing business.

For example, say you go away for a week (seven days). You spend five days meeting with clients, and a couple of days lounging on the beach. That qualifies as business trip.

But if you spend three days meeting with clients, and four days on the beach? That’s a vacation. Luckily, the days that you travel to and from your location are counted as work days.

3. The trip needs to be an “ordinary and necessary” expense

“Ordinary and necessary ” is a term used by the IRS to designate expenses that are “ordinary” for a business, given the industry it’s in, and “necessary” for the sake of carrying out business activities.

If there are two virtually identical conferences taking place—one in Honolulu, the other in your hometown—you can’t write off an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii.

Likewise, if you need to rent a car to get around, you’ll have trouble writing off the cost of a Range Rover if a Toyota Camry will get you there just as fast.

What qualifies as “ordinary and necessary” can seem like a gray area at times, and you may be tempted to fudge it. Our advice: err on the side of caution. if the IRS chooses to investigate and discovers you’ve claimed an expense that wasn’t necessary for conducting business, you could face serious penalties .

4. You need to plan the trip in advance

You can’t show up at Universal Studios , hand out business cards to everyone you meet in line for the roller coaster, call it “networking,” and deduct the cost of the trip from your taxes. A business trip needs to be planned in advance.

Before your trip, plan where you’ll be each day, when, and outline who you’ll spend it with. Document your plans in writing before you leave. If possible, email a copy to someone so it gets a timestamp. This helps prove that there was professional intent behind your trip.

The rules are different when you travel outside the United States

Business travel rules are slightly relaxed when you travel abroad.

If you travel outside the USA for more than a week (seven consecutive days, not counting the day you depart the United States):

You must spend at least 75% of your time outside of the country conducting business for the entire getaway to qualify as a business trip.

If you travel outside the USA for more than a week, but spend less than 75% of your time doing business, you can still deduct travel costs proportional to how much time you do spend working during the trip.

For example, say you go on an eight-day international trip. If you spend at least six days conducting business, you can deduct the entire cost of the trip as a business expense—because 6 is equivalent to 75% of your time away, which, remember, is the minimum you must spend on business in order for the entire trip to qualify as a deductible business expense.

But if you only spend four days out of the eight-day trip conducting business—or just 50% of your time away—you would only be able to deduct 50% of the cost of your travel expenses, because the trip no longer qualifies as entirely for business.

List of travel expenses

Here are some examples of business travel deductions you can claim:

• Plane, train, and bus tickets between your home and your business destination
• Baggage fees
• Laundry and dry cleaning during your trip
• Rental car costs
• Hotel and Airbnb costs
• 50% of eligible business meals
• 50% of meals while traveling to and from your destination

On a business trip, you can deduct 100% of the cost of travel to your destination, whether that’s a plane, train, or bus ticket. If you rent a car to get there, and to get around, that cost is deductible, too.

The cost of your lodging is tax deductible. You can also potentially deduct the cost of lodging on the days when you’re not conducting business, but it depends on how you schedule your trip. The trick is to wedge “vacation days” in between work days.

Here’s a sample itinerary to explain how this works:

Thursday: Fly to Durham, NC. Friday: Meet with clients. Saturday: Intermediate line dancing lessons. Sunday: Advanced line dancing lessons. Monday: Meet with clients. Tuesday: Fly home.

Thursday and Tuesday are travel days (remember: travel days on business trips count as work days). And Friday and Monday, you’ll be conducting business.

It wouldn’t make sense to fly home for the weekend (your non-work days), only to fly back into Durham for your business meetings on Monday morning.

So, since you’re technically staying in Durham on Saturday and Sunday, between the days when you’ll be conducting business, the total cost of your lodging on the trip is tax deductible, even if you aren’t actually doing any work on the weekend.

It’s not your fault that your client meetings are happening in Durham—the unofficial line dancing capital of America .

Meals and entertainment during your stay

Even on a business trip, you can only deduct a portion of the meal and entertainment expenses that specifically facilitate business. So, if you’re in Louisiana closing a deal over some alligator nuggets, you can write off 50% of the bill.

Just make sure you make a note on the receipt, or in your expense-tracking app , about the nature of the meeting you conducted—who you met with, when, and what you discussed.

On the other hand, if you’re sampling the local cuisine and there’s no clear business justification for doing so, you’ll have to pay for the meal out of your own pocket.

Meals and entertainment while you travel

While you are traveling to the destination where you’re doing business, the meals you eat along the way can be deducted by 50% as business expenses.

This could be your chance to sample local delicacies and write them off on your tax return. Just make sure your tastes aren’t too extravagant. Just like any deductible business expense, the meals must remain “ordinary and necessary” for conducting business.

How Bench can help

Surprised at the kinds of expenses that are tax-deductible? Travel expenses are just one of many unexpected deductible costs that can reduce your tax bill. But with messy or incomplete financials, you can miss these tax saving expenses and end up with a bigger bill than necessary.

Enter Bench, America’s largest bookkeeping service. With a Bench subscription, your team of bookkeepers imports every transaction from your bank, credit cards, and merchant processors, accurately categorizing each and reviewing for hidden tax deductions. We provide you with complete and up-to-date bookkeeping, guaranteeing that you won’t miss a single opportunity to save.

Want to talk taxes with a professional? With a premium subscription, you get access to unlimited, on-demand consultations with our tax professionals. They can help you identify deductions, find unexpected opportunities for savings, and ensure you’re paying the smallest possible tax bill. Learn more .

Bringing friends & family on a business trip

Don’t feel like spending the vacation portion of your business trip all alone? While you can’t directly deduct the expense of bringing friends and family on business trips, some costs can be offset indirectly.

Driving to your destination

Have three or four empty seats in your car? Feel free to fill them. As long as you’re traveling for business, and renting a vehicle is a “necessary and ordinary” expense, you can still deduct your business mileage or car rental costs even when others join you for the ride.

One exception: If you incur extra mileage or “unnecessary” rental costs because you bring your family along for the ride, the expense is no longer deductible because it isn’t “necessary or ordinary.”

For example, let’s say you had to rent an extra large van to bring your children on a business trip. If you wouldn’t have needed to rent the same vehicle to travel alone, the expense of the extra large van no longer qualifies as a business deduction.

Renting a place to stay

Similar to the driving expense, you can only deduct lodging equivalent to what you would use if you were travelling alone.

However, there is some flexibility. If you pay for lodging to accommodate you and your family, you can deduct the portion of lodging costs that is equivalent to what you would pay only for yourself .

For example, let’s say a hotel room for one person costs $100, but a hotel room that can accommodate your family costs $150. You can rent the $150 option and deduct $100 of the cost as a business expense—because $100 is how much you’d be paying if you were staying there alone.

This deduction has the potential to save you a lot of money on accommodation for your family. Just make sure you hold on to receipts and records that state the prices of different rooms, in case you need to justify the expense to the IRS

Heads up. When it comes to AirBnB, the lines get blurry. It’s easy to compare the cost of a hotel room with one bed to a hotel room with two beds. But when you’re comparing significantly different lodgings, with different owners—a pool house versus a condo, for example—it becomes hard to justify deductions. Sticking to “traditional” lodging like hotels and motels may help you avoid scrutiny during an audit. And when in doubt: ask your tax advisor.

So your trip is technically a vacation? You can still claim any business-related expenses

The moment your getaway crosses the line from “business trip” to “vacation” (e.g. you spend more days toasting your buns than closing deals) you can no longer deduct business travel expenses.

Generally, a “vacation” is:

• A trip where you don’t spend the majority of your days doing business
• A business trip you can’t back up with correct documentation

However, you can still deduct regular business-related expenses if you happen to conduct business while you’re on vacay.

For example, say you visit Portland for fun, and one of your clients also lives in that city. You have a lunch meeting with your client while you’re in town. Because the lunch is business related, you can write off 50% of the cost of the meal, the same way you would any other business meal and entertainment expense . Just make sure you keep the receipt.

Meanwhile, the other “vacation” related expenses that made it possible to meet with this client in person—plane tickets to Portland, vehicle rental so you could drive around the city—cannot be deducted; the trip is still a vacation.

If your business travel is with your own vehicle

There are two ways to deduct business travel expenses when you’re using your own vehicle.

• Actual expenses method
• Standard mileage rate method

Actual expenses is where you total up the actual cost associated with using your vehicle (gas, insurance, new tires, parking fees, parking tickets while visiting a client etc.) and multiply it by the percentage of time you used it for business. If it was 50% for business during the tax year, you’d multiply your total car costs by 50%, and that’d be the amount you deduct.

Standard mileage is where you keep track of the business miles you drove during the tax year, and then you claim the standard mileage rate .

The cost of breaking the rules

Don’t bother trying to claim a business trip unless you have the paperwork to back it up. Use an app like Expensify to track business expenditure (especially when you travel for work) and master the art of small business recordkeeping .

If you claim eligible write offs and maintain proper documentation, you should have all of the records you need to justify your deductions during a tax audit.

Speaking of which, if your business is flagged to be audited, the IRS will make it a goal to notify you by mail as soon as possible after your filing. Usually, this is within two years of the date for which you’ve filed. However, the IRS reserves the right to go as far back as six years.

Tax penalties for disallowed business expense deductions

If you’re caught claiming a deduction you don’t qualify for, which helped you pay substantially less income tax than you should have, you’ll be penalized. In this case, “substantially less” means the equivalent of a difference of 10% of what you should have paid, or $5,000—whichever amount is higher.

The penalty is typically 20% of the difference between what you should have paid and what you actually paid in income tax. This is on top of making up the difference.

Ultimately, you’re paying back 120% of what you cheated off the IRS.

If you’re slightly confused at this point, don’t stress. Here’s an example to show you how this works:

Suppose you would normally pay $30,000 income tax. But because of a deduction you claimed, you only pay $29,000 income tax.

If the IRS determines that the deduction you claimed is illegitimate, you’ll have to pay the IRS $1200. That’s $1000 to make up the difference, and $200 for the penalty.

Form 8275 can help you avoid tax penalties

If you think a tax deduction may be challenged by the IRS, there’s a way you can file it while avoiding any chance of being penalized.

File Form 8275 along with your tax return. This form gives you the chance to highlight and explain the deduction in detail.

In the event you’re audited and the deduction you’ve listed on Form 8275 turns out to be illegitimate, you’ll still have to pay the difference to make up for what you should have paid in income tax—but you’ll be saved the 20% penalty.

Unfortunately, filing Form 8275 doesn’t reduce your chances of being audited.

Where to claim travel expenses

If you’re self-employed, you’ll claim travel expenses on Schedule C , which is part of Form 1040.

When it comes to taking advantage of the tax write-offs we’ve discussed in this article—or any tax write-offs, for that matter—the support of a professional bookkeeping team and a trusted CPA is essential.

Accurate financial statements will help you understand cash flow and track deductible expenses. And beyond filing your taxes, a CPA can spot deductions you may have overlooked, and represent you during a tax audit.

Learn more about how to find, hire, and work with an accountant . And when you’re ready to outsource your bookkeeping, try Bench .

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Everything You Need to Know About the Business Travel Tax Deduction

Justin is an IRS Enrolled Agent, allowing him to represent taxpayers before the IRS. He loves helping freelancers and small business owners save on taxes. He is also an attorney and works part-time with the Keeper Tax team.

You don’t have to fly first class and stay at a fancy hotel to claim travel expense tax deductions. Conferences, worksite visits, and even a change of scenery can (sometimes) qualify as business travel.

What counts as business travel?

The IRS does have a few simple guidelines for determining what counts as business travel. Your trip has to be:

• Mostly business
• An “ordinary and necessary” expense
• Someplace far away from your “tax home”

What counts as "mostly business"?

The IRS will measure your time away in days. If you spend more days doing business activities than not, your trip is considered "mostly business". Your travel days are counted as work days.

Special rules for traveling abroad

If you are traveling abroad for business purposes, you trip counts as " entirely for business " as long as you spend less than 25% of your time on personal activities (like vacationing). Your travel days count as work days.

So say you you head off to Zurich for nine days. You've got a seven-day run of conference talks, client meetings, and the travel it takes to get you there. You then tack on two days skiing on the nearby slopes.

Good news: Your trip still counts as "entirely for business." That's because two out of nine days is less than 25%.

What is an “ordinary and necessary” expense?

“Ordinary and necessary” means that the trip:

• Makes sense given your industry, and
• Was taken for the purpose of carrying out business activities

If you have a choice between two conferences — one in your hometown, and one in London — the British one wouldn’t be an ordinary and necessary expense.

What is your tax home?

A taxpayer can deduct travel expenses anytime you are traveling away from home but depending on where you work the IRS definition of “home” can get complicated.

Your tax home is often — but not always — where you live with your family (what the IRS calls your "family home"). When it comes to defining it, there are two factors to consider:

• What's your main place of business, and
• How large is your tax home

What's your main place of business?

If your main place of business is somewhere other than your family home, your tax home will be the former — where you work, not where your family lives.

For example, say you:

• Live with your family in Chicago, but
• Work in Milwaukee during the week (where you stay in hotels and eat in restaurants)

Then your tax home is Milwaukee. That's your main place of business, even if you travel back to your family home every weekend.

How large is your tax home?

In most cases, your tax home is the entire city or general area where your main place of business is located.

The “entire city” is easy to define but “general area” gets a bit tricker. For example, if you live in a rural area, then your general area may span several counties during a regular work week.

Rules for business travel

Want to check if your trip is tax-deductible? Make sure it follows these rules set by the IRS.

1. Your trip should take you away from your home base

A good rule of thumb is 100 miles. That’s about a two hour drive, or any kind of plane ride. To be able to claim all the possible travel deductions, your trip should require you to sleep somewhere that isn’t your home.

2. You should be working regular hours

In general, that means eight hours a day of work-related activity.

It’s fine to take personal time in the evenings, and you can still take weekends off. But you can’t take a half-hour call from Disneyland and call it a business trip.

Here's an example. Let’s say you’re a real estate agent living in Chicago. You travel to an industry conference in Las Vegas. You go to the conference during the day, go out in the evenings, and then stay the weekend. That’s a business trip!

3. The trip should last less than a year

Once you’ve been somewhere for over a year, you’re essentially living there. However, traveling for six months at a time is fine!

For example, say you’re a freelancer on Upwork, living in Seattle. You go down to stay with your sister in San Diego for the winter to expand your client network, and you work regular hours while you’re there. That counts as business travel.

What about digital nomads?

With the rise of remote-first workplaces, many freelancers choose to take their work with them as they travel the globe. There are a couple of requirements these expats have to meet if they want to write off travel costs.

Requirement #1: A tax home

Digital nomads have to be able to claim a particular foreign city as a tax home if they want to write off any travel expenses. You don't have to be there all the time — but it should be your professional home base when you're abroad.

For example, say you've rent a room or a studio apartment in Prague for the year. You regularly call clients and finish projects from there. You still travel a lot, for both work and play. But Prague is your tax home, so you can write off travel expenses.

Requirement #2: Some work-related reason for traveling

As long as you've got a tax home and some work-related reason for traveling, these excursion count as business trips. Plausible reasons include meeting with local clients, or attending a local conference and then extending your stay.

However, if you’re a freelance software developer working from Thailand because you like the weather, that unfortunately doesn't count as business travel.

The travel expenses you can write off

As a rule of thumb, all travel-related expenses on a business trip are tax-deductible. You can also claim meals while traveling, but be careful with entertainment expenses (like going out for drinks!).

Here are some common travel-related write-offs you can take.

🛫 All transportation

Any transportation costs are a travel tax deduction. This includes traveling by airplane, train, bus, or car. Baggage fees are deductible, and so are Uber rides to and from the airport.

Just remember: if a client is comping your airfare, or if you booked your ticket with frequent flier miles, then it isn't deductible since your cost was $0.

If you rent a car to go on a business trip, that rental is tax-deductible. If you drive your own vehicle, you can either take actual costs or use the standard mileage deduction. There's more info on that in our guide to deducting car expenses .

Hotels, motels, Airbnb stays, sublets on Craigslist, even reimbursing a friend for crashing on their couch: all of these are tax-deductible lodging expenses.

🥡 Meals while traveling

If your trip has you staying overnight — or even crashing somewhere for a few hours before you can head back — you can write off food expenses. Grabbing a burger alone or a coffee at your airport terminal counts! Even groceries and takeout are tax-deductible.

One important thing to keep in mind: You can usually deduct 50% of your meal costs. For 2021 and 2022, meals you get at restaurants are 100% tax-deductible. Go to the grocery store, though, and you’re limited to the usual 50%.

{upsell_block}

🌐 Wi-Fi and communications

Wi-Fi — on a plane or at your hotel — is completely deductible when you’re traveling for work. This also goes for other communication expenses, like hotspots and international calls.

If you need to ship things as part of your trip — think conference booth materials or extra clothes — those expenses are also tax-deductible.

👔 Dry cleaning

Need to look your best on the trip? You can write off related expenses, like laundry charges.

{write_off_block}

Travel expenses you can't deduct

Some travel costs may seem like no-brainers, but they're not actually tax-deductible. Here are a couple of common ones to watch our for.

The cost of bringing your child or spouse

If you bring your child or spouse on a business trip, your travel expense deductions get a little trickier. In general, the cost of bring other people on a business trip is considered personal expense — which means it's not deductible.

You can only deduct travel expenses if your child or spouse:

• Is an employee,
• Has a bona fide business purpose for traveling with you, and
• Would otherwise be allowed to deduct the travel expense on their own

Some hotel bill charges

Staying in a hotel may be required for travel purposes. That's why the room charge and taxes are deductible.

Some additional charges, though, won't qualify. Here are some examples of fees that aren't tax-deductible:

• Gym or fitness center fees
• Movie rental fees
• Game rental fees

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Where to claim travel expenses when filing your taxes

If you are self-employed, you will claim all your income tax deduction on the Schedule C. This is part of the Form 1040 that self-employed people complete ever year.

What happens if your business deductions are disallowed?

If the IRS challenges your business deduction and they are disallowed, there are potential penalties. This can happen if:

• The deduction was not legitimate and shouldn't have been claimed in the first place, or
• The deduction was legitimate, but you don't have the documentation to support it

When does the penalty come into play?

The 20% penalty is not automatic. It only applies if it allowed you to pay substantially less taxes than you normally would. In most cases, the IRS considers “substantially less” to mean you paid at least 10% less.

In practice, you would only reach this 10% threshold if the IRS disqualified a significant number of your travel deductions.

How much is the penalty?

The penalty is normally 20% of the difference between what you should have paid and what you actually paid. You also have to make up the original difference.

In total, this means you will be paying 120% of your original tax obligation: your original obligation, plus 20% penalty.

Justin W. Jones, EA, JD

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Tax Deductions for Business Travelers

When you are self-employed, you generally can deduct the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for business from your income. But before you start listing travel deductions, make sure you understand what the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) means by "home," "business," and "ordinary and necessary expenses."

Ordinary vs. necessary expenses

Business home, not home sweet home, transportation expenses on a business trip are deductible, fees for getting around are deductible, lodging, meals and tips are deductible.

Key Takeaways

• Typically, you can deduct travel expenses if they are ordinary (common and accepted in your industry) and necessary (helpful and appropriate for your business).
• You can deduct business travel expenses when you are away from both your home and the location of your main place of business (tax home).
• Deductible expenses include transportation, baggage fees, car rentals, taxis and shuttles, lodging, tips, and fees.
• You can also deduct 50% of either the actual cost of meals or the standard meal allowance, which is based on the federal meals and incidental expense per diem rate.

The IRS defines expense ordinary and necessary expenses this way:

• An expense is ordinary if it is common and accepted in your industry
• An expense is necessary if it is helpful and appropriate for your business

You can claim business travel expenses when you're away from home but "home" doesn't always mean where your family lives. You also have a tax home—the city where your main place of business is located—which may not be the same as the location of your family home.

For example, if you live in Petaluma, California but your permanent work location is in San Jose where you stay in hotels and eat out during the work week, you typically can't deduct your expenses in San Jose or your transportation home on weekends.

• In this situation San Jose is your tax home , so no deductions are permitted for ordinary and necessary expenses there.
• Your trips to your home in Petaluma are not mandated by business.

Go by plane, train or bus—the actual cost of the ticket to ride is deductible, as well as any baggage fees. If you have to pay top dollar for a last-minute flight, the high-priced ticket is a business expense, but if you use frequent-flyer miles for a free ticket, the deduction is zero.

If you decide to rent a car to go on a business trip, the car rental is deductible. If you drive your own vehicle, you can usually take actual costs or the IRS standard mileage rate. For 2023 the rate is 65.5 cents per mile. You also can add tolls and parking costs onto your deduction. This amount increases to 67 cents per mile for 2024.

TurboTax Tip: Even if you use the federal meals and incidental expense per diem rates to calculate your deductions, be sure to keep receipts from all your meals and incidental expenses.

Fares for taxis or shuttles can be deducted as business travel expenses. For example, you can deduct the fare or other costs to go to:

• Airport or train station
• Hotel from the airport or train station
• Between your hotel and the work location
• Between clients in the area

If you rent a car when you arrive at your destination, the expense is deductible as long as the car is used exclusively for business. If you use it both for business and personal purposes, you can only deduct the portion of the rental used for business.

The IRS allows business travelers to deduct business-related meals and hotel costs, as long as they are reasonable considering the circumstances—not lavish or extravagant.

You would have to eat if you were home, so this might explain why the IRS limits meal deductions to 50% of either the:

• Actual cost of the meal
• Standard meal allowance

This allowance is based on the federal meals and incidental expense per diem rate that depends on where and when you travel.

Generally, you can deduct 50% of the cost of meals. Alternatively, if you do not incur any meal expenses nor claim the standard meal allowance, you can deduct the amount of $5 per day for incidental expenses. You can also deduct incidental expenses, such as:

• Fees and tips given to hotel staff
• Fees for porters and baggage carriers

But don't forget to keep track of the actual costs.

Let a local tax expert matched to your unique situation get your taxes done 100% right with TurboTax Live Full Service . Your expert will uncover industry-specific deductions for more tax breaks and file your taxes for you. Backed by our Full Service Guarantee . You can also file taxes on your own with TurboTax Premium . We’ll search over 500 deductions and credits so you don’t miss a thing.

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The above article is intended to provide generalized financial information designed to educate a broad segment of the public; it does not give personalized tax, investment, legal, or other business and professional advice. Before taking any action, you should always seek the assistance of a professional who knows your particular situation for advice on taxes, your investments, the law, or any other business and professional matters that affect you and/or your business.

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TurboTax Online: Important Details about Filing Form 1040 Returns with Limited Credits

A Form 1040 return with limited credits is one that's filed using IRS Form 1040 only (with the exception of the specific covered situations described below). Roughly 37% of taxpayers are eligible. If you have a Form 1040 return and are claiming limited credits only, you can file for free yourself with TurboTax Free Edition, or you can file with TurboTax Live Assisted Basic or TurboTax Full Service at the listed price.

Situations covered (assuming no added tax complexity):

• Interest or dividends (1099-INT/1099-DIV) that don’t require filing a Schedule B
• IRS standard deduction
• Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
• Child Tax Credit (CTC)
• Student loan interest deduction

Situations not covered:

• Itemized deductions claimed on Schedule A
• Unemployment income reported on a 1099-G
• Business or 1099-NEC income
• Stock sales (including crypto investments)
• Rental property income
• Credits, deductions and income reported on other forms or schedules 

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What Are Transportation Expenses?

• How They Work

Special Considerations

• Supply Chain

Transportation Expenses: Definition, How They Work, and Taxation

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Thomas J Catalano is a CFP and Registered Investment Adviser with the state of South Carolina, where he launched his own financial advisory firm in 2018. Thomas' experience gives him expertise in a variety of areas including investments, retirement, insurance, and financial planning.

The term transportation expense refers to specific costs incurred by an employee or self-employed taxpayer who travels for business purposes. Transportation expenses are a subset of travel expenses, which include all of the costs associated with business travel such as taxi fare, fuel, parking fees, lodging, meals, tips, cleaning, shipping, and telephone charges that employees may incur and claim for reimbursement from their employers. Some transportation expenses may be eligible for a tax deduction on an employee's tax return .

Key Takeaways

• Transportation expenses are a subset of travel expenses that refer specifically to the cost of business transportation by car, plane, train, etc.
• Expenses such as fuel, parking fees, lodging, meals, and telephone charges incurred by employees can be claimed as transportation expenses.
• These expenses may be deducted for tax purposes subject to the appropriate restrictions and guidelines.

How Transportation Expenses Work

Transportation expenses are any costs related to business travel by company employees. An employee who travels for a business trip is generally able to claim the cost of travel, hotel, food, and any other related expense as a transportation expense. These costs may also include those associated with traveling to a temporary workplace from home under some circumstances. For instance, an employee whose travel area is not limited to their tax home can generally claim that travel as a transportation expense.

These expenses, though, are narrower in scope. They only refer to the use of or cost of maintaining a car used for business or transport by rail, air, bus, taxi, or any other means of conveyance for business purposes. These expenses may also refer to deductions for businesses and self-employed individuals when filing tax returns . Commuting to and from the office, however, does not count as a transportation expense.

The cost of commuting is not considered a deductible transportation expense.

Transportation expenses may only qualify for tax deductions if they are directly related to the primary business for which an individual works. For example, if a traveler works in the same business or trade at one or more regular work locations that are away from home such as a construction worker, it is considered a transportation expense.

Similarly, if a traveler has no set workplace but mostly works in the same metropolitan area they live in, they may claim a travel expense if they travel to a worksite outside of their metro area. On the other hand, claiming transportation costs when you have not actually done any traveling for the business is not allowed and can be viewed as a form of tax fraud .

Taxpayers must keep good records in order to claim travel expenses. Receipts and other evidence must be submitted when claiming travel-related reimbursable or tax-deductible expenses.

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) travel or transportation expenses are defined as being: "...the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for your business, profession, or job." And it further defines "traveling away from home" as duties that "...require you to be away from the general area of your tax home substantially longer than an ordinary day's work, and you need to sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away from home."

The IRS provides guidelines for transportation expenses, deductibility, depreciation, conditions, exceptions , reimbursement rates, and more in Publication 463 . The publication sets the per-mile reimbursement rate for operating your personal car for business. Travelers who use their vehicles for work can claim 58.5 cents per mile for the 2022 tax year , increasing to 62.5 cents for the remaining six months. That's up from 56 cents eligible for 2021. The IRS' determined rate treated as  depreciation  for the business standard mileage is 26 cents as of Jan. 1, 2021.

Internal Revenue Service. " Topic No. 511 Business Travel Expenses ."

Internal Revenue Service. " 2022 Standard Mileage Rates ," Pages 3-4.

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Home > Finance > Travel Expenses Definition And Tax Deductible Categories

Travel Expenses Definition And Tax Deductible Categories

Published: February 11, 2024

Learn about travel expenses, their definition, and tax deductible categories in finance. Maximize your tax deductions and save money while traveling.

• Definition starting with T

(Many of the links in this article redirect to a specific reviewed product. Your purchase of these products through affiliate links helps to generate commission for LiveWell, at no extra cost. Learn more )

Maximizing Your Travel Expenses: A Guide to Tax Deductible Categories

Are you a frequent traveler who wants to make the most out of your travel expenses? Or maybe you’re a business owner looking to understand the tax deductible categories related to travel. Either way, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, we will explore the definition of travel expenses and discuss the various categories that may be eligible for tax deductions. So, let’s dive in and discover how you can optimize your finances while enjoying your travels!

Key Takeaways:

• Understanding the definition of travel expenses is crucial for maximizing your tax deductions.
• Know the tax deductible categories to ensure you claim all eligible expenses.

Defining Travel Expenses

Travel expenses, in a broad sense, refer to the costs associated with a trip taken for business, work, or investment purposes. These expenses can include transportation, lodging, meals, entertainment, and other incidental expenses. However, it’s important to note that not all travel-related expenses are tax deductible.

When it comes to tax deductions, the IRS requires that your travel expenses meet certain criteria. Generally, the expenses must be necessary, ordinary, directly related to your business or work, and proper and appropriate in the context of your profession. It’s always a good idea to consult with a tax professional to ensure you meet all the necessary requirements.

Tax Deductible Categories for Travel Expenses

1. Transportation Expenses:

Transportation costs usually comprise a significant portion of travel expenses. These can include airfare, train or bus tickets, rental car fees, taxi fares, and even parking fees. Keep in mind that personal expenses unrelated to your business or work are not considered tax deductible.

2. Lodging Expenses:

When traveling for business, your accommodations can be tax deductible. This includes hotel stays or rental expenses for apartments or houses. However, if you combine business travel with personal vacations, only the expenses directly related to your business activities are eligible for tax deductions.

3. Meal Expenses:

The cost of meals during your business travel can also be tax deductible, but be mindful of the regulations set forth by the IRS. Generally, meals must be directly related to the active conduct of your business, with only 50% of the cost being eligible for deduction. Remember to keep receipts and make note of the business purpose of each meal.

4. Entertainment Expenses:

In certain circumstances, entertainment expenses incurred during your business travel can be tax deductible. These expenses typically include entertaining clients or customers, attending conferences or trade shows, and networking events. As with meals, it’s important to maintain documentation such as receipts and details of the business purpose for each expense.

5. Incidental Expenses:

Incidental expenses refer to smaller costs incurred during your travel, such as tips, baggage fees, and laundry expenses. Though they may seem insignificant, these expenses can add up over time. By keeping track of them and ensuring they are directly related to your business activities, you can potentially claim them as tax deductions.

The Bottom Line

Understanding the categories of tax-deductible travel expenses is crucial for optimizing your finances. By familiarizing yourself with these categories and maintaining proper documentation, you can ensure that you claim all eligible expenses and maximize your tax deductions.

Remember, consulting with a tax professional is always a wise decision to ensure compliance with the ever-changing regulations. So, go ahead and explore the world while making the most of your travel expenses with these tax deductible categories!

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• Tax Planning

What Are Travel Expenses for Tax Purposes?

How travel expenses work, how to calculate and file travel expenses, what tax-deductible travel costs mean for individuals, frequently asked questions (faqs).

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Travel expenses are certain travel-related business costs that you can deduct for tax purposes.

Key Takeaways

• Travel expenses are tax-deductible costs associated with traveling for business, away from your main workplace.
• Travel expenses eligible for tax deduction need to be “ordinary and necessary” and have a business purpose
• You generally can’t deduct costs such as those incurred for a personal vacation.
• Only businesses, including self-employed individuals, can typically deduct travel expenses.

When filing taxes, your travel expenses are the costs associated with travel that a business can generally deduct. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) defines these costs as “ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for your business, profession, or job.”

For example, a business owner might drive to a client’s office a few hours away and stay at a hotel overnight before driving home the next day. In that case, the business owner can often deduct travel expenses such as gas (or they might use the standard mileage rate rather than adding up actual car expenses ) and lodging.

However, not all travel costs are tax-deductible travel expenses. For one, traveling to and from your home to your main office wouldn’t count as travel, because that would just be commuting, which isn’t deductible. Also, tax-deductible travel expenses can’t be “lavish or extravagant,” per the IRS.

While these terms can be somewhat subjective, it helps to refer back to the “ordinary and necessary” guidelines. If your business is centered around blogging about luxury resorts, then perhaps staying at some higher-end hotels could be considered an ordinary part of doing your job. Yet, if you’re a self-employed graphic designer and you travel to another city to see a client, it might not be considered ordinary to stay at a $1,000-per-night hotel when plenty of other reasonable options exist at around a $200 price point.

In addition to being ordinary and necessary, travel expenses also need to be for business use to be deductible, rather than personal use. So you generally can’t deduct the cost of a family vacation as travel expenses just because you’re a business owner.

Travel expenses are reported by businesses on relevant forms when filing taxes, which can reduce taxable income. For example, a self-employed individual often uses Schedule C to report their business income and business expenses , with travel being a line item within the “Expenses” section.

Adding up travel costs can differ a bit based on the taxpayer’s preferences. For example, when it comes to accounting for travel expenses related to driving, you can use either the standard mileage rate (58.5 cents per mile for tax year 2022) or add up actual costs, such as gas, depreciation, insurance, etc. Also keep in mind that someone who has a vehicle that they drive for both business and personal use can only deduct the portion used for business.

Other nuances include the cost of meals while traveling. Generally, only 50% of business meals can be deducted, although certain exceptions apply. However, business owners might decide instead to take the standard meal allowance , which is a daily amount that covers food and incidental expenses, with the exact amount depending on where the travel takes place.

By taking generalized deductions such as the standard meal allowance when counting up travel expenses, a business owner doesn’t necessarily need to save receipts from every food purchase while on the road.

You still need to keep records to prove the business travel took place. Otherwise, if your business gets audited and has insufficient records to justify travel expenses, you could potentially face penalties.

Understanding travel expenses can be helpful for individuals who have their own businesses, including those who freelance or do gig work, thus filling out tax forms such as Schedule C . By accounting for these costs, you can reduce your taxable income, meaning you pay less in taxes than you would if you didn’t deduct these expenses. Consulting with a tax professional or other relevant expert could help you fully and accurately take advantage of these tax-saving opportunities.

However, individuals who do not have business income, such as those who are W-2 employees, generally can’t take any travel expenses on their personal returns. So, even if your employer doesn’t pay you back for business travel, you typically can’t deduct these expenses.

Which business travel expenses are tax deductible?

Expenses incurred when you travel away from your home for your job may be tax deductible. These expenses include costs of travel by airplane, train, bus or car. Transportation fare between hotel and work on the trip and cost of baggage. Eligible expenses may also include lodging, meals, drying cleaning, laundry, cost of business communication and any tips paid out while on the business trip.

What percentage of business travel expenses are tax deductible?

You can deduct 100% of your business travel expenses if they meet certain criteria. The expenses should be "ordinary and necessary" expenses incurred while traveling away form home for your job and must not be "lavish or extravagant." You cannot deduct expenses incurred in your commute to work as travel expenses. If you drive a car for both personal and business trips, only the business part of the usage is deductible. You may also be able to deduct up to 50% of your meals while traveling as business expense.

IRS. " Topic No. 511 Business Travel Expenses ."

IRS. " Schedule C (Form 1040) Profit or Loss From Business ."

IRS. " IRS Issues Standard Mileage Rates for 2022 ."

IRS. " Here’s what taxpayers need to know about business related travel deductions ."

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Everything you need to know about travel expenses

Everything You Need to Know About Travel Expenses

Did you know that the average three-day domestic trip costs between $990-$1,293 ? That's a lot of money and can add up quickly if you're not careful. In this article, we're going to look at some of the most common travel expenses and how to save money on them. We'll also discuss some tax deductions that may be available to you. So let's get started!

What counts as a travel expense?

Travel expenses can add up quickly, so it's important to be aware of what does and does not count as business-related travel expenses.

So, what exactly is a business-related travel expense? The IRS defines it as "an expense incurred while away from home on business." This includes things like travel to and from meetings, conferences, and business-related events. It can also include expenses related to lodging, meals, and transportation.

Costs that occur while you're traveling away from home for business purposes, such as airfare or mileage, hotel expenses, and food, can all be considered business-related travel expenses. However, personal expenses, such as new shoes or clothing, do not count as business-related travel expenses, even if you purchase them while traveling. Keep this in mind when budgeting for your next business trip to make sure you include all relevant expenses.

Types of Travel Expenses

There are several different types of travel expenses, and it's important to understand what each one is before you start planning your trip. This way, you can include all relevant costs in your budget.

Accommodations and Lodging

One of the most common travel expenses is accommodations and lodging. This can include anything from a hotel room to an Airbnb rental. If you need to pay for overnight accommodations on a work trip, whether that's a hotel or other type of lodging, it counts as a travel expense. Of course, your lodging costs have to be within reason, so don't expect to be able to deduct a luxurious resort.

Transportation

Another common travel expense is transportation. This includes things like airfare, train tickets, taxis, and rental cars. However, it's important that depending on your mode of transportation, the things you can deduct as travel expenses may vary. For example, if you're renting a car, you can deduct the cost of gas as a travel expense, or if you're using your vehicle, you can deduct your mileage at the standard mileage rate. For 2022, that rate is 62.5 cents per mile.

Airfare Is also considered a travel expense. However, if you pay for your flight with frequent flier miles or other rewards points, or if a client provides your ticket, you cannot write off airfare as a travel expense. 

Food and Meals

One of the common questions people have about travel expenses is whether or not they can deduct food and meals. And the answer is, it depends. If you're on a business trip that lasts longer than a day, you can deduct 50 percent of the cost of your meals as a travel expense. However, if your trip is less than 24 hours, you can't deduct any of your meal expenses.  

Miscellaneous Travel Expenses

There are also a few other miscellaneous travel expenses that you may incur while on a business trip. These can include things like laundry, tips, business-related communication, and shipping and handling of luggage or work-related materials. As with food and meals, these expenses can only be deducted if your trip lasts longer than a day.

Travel Expenses You Can't Write Off

There are many different types of travel expenses that can be written off on your taxes, but there are also some that you cannot. It's important to be aware of both so that you can accurately calculate your tax bill. Here are examples of travel expenses you CAN NOT deduct.

Entertainment

One type of travel expense that you can not deduct is entertainment. This includes things like tickets to a show or a ball game, golf fees, and other recreational activities. Even if you're entertaining a potential client or business associate, you can not deduct the cost as a business expense.

Traveling with family and friends

If you're traveling with family or friends, the IRS doesn't allow any of their travel expenses to be deducted. However, you might be able to deduct some expenses if you can prove that the trip was for business purposes and that your family members or friends were acting as employees or contractors.

Lavish and extravagant expenses

The IRS also does not allow any extravagant expenses to be deducted as travel expenses. This includes things like first-class airfare, luxury hotels, or expensive meals. If you're not sure whether or not an expense is considered lavish or extravagant, the IRS says that it's "an expense isn't considered lavish or extravagant if it's reasonable based on facts or circumstances."

Travel that is compensated

If you're compensated for your travel, whether that's through reimbursement or a per diem, you can not deduct those expenses as business travel expenses. This includes things like airfare, lodging, and meals. The only exception to this rule is if you're an employee of a church or a qualified non-profit organization and you're traveling on behalf of the organization.

Personal vacations

Last but not least, you can not deduct any expenses for personal vacations. Even if you do some work while you're on vacation, like checking your email or attending a business meeting, you can not deduct any of those expenses.

How to manage the travel expenses for your business

Now that you know what types of travel expenses can be deducted, it's time to learn how to manage them. 

Step 1: Decide the payment method

The first step is to decide how the travel expenses will be paid. You can either ask the employee to pay upfront and then be reimbursed, or you can pay the expenses directly from a company bank account or company credit card.  

For many businesses, the simplest way to handle expenses is to ask employees to pay for them out of their own pockets and then submit expense claims for reimbursement. However, this can be a time-consuming process for both administrators and staff because expense reports need to be filled out and submitted, and then the claims need to be reviewed and processed.

However, with Ontheclock Employee App , the employees can submit their r eceipts electronically , and administrators approve the claims quickly. This saves everyone valuable time in managing this process!

Step 2: Set out a clear process for expense submission

The next step is to set out a straightforward process for employees to follow when submitting expenses. This will help to ensure that all the necessary information is included and will make it easier for you to process the claims.

To do this, you can create an expense policy that outlines what types of expenses are eligible for reimbursement and how employees should go about submitting their claims. For example, you might require employees to submit original receipts or to submit their claims within a specific timeframe.

Step 3: Communicate the expense policy

Travel expenses can be a minefield for companies, and many struggle to strike the right balance between keeping costs down and making sure employees are comfortable on business trips. It's well known that many companies have strict rules around expenses and that employees often try to find ways to get around them. This can leave the business in a difficult situation, as they may either have to pay the bill or leave the employee out of pocket. The best way to avoid this is to make sure that you have a clear and concise policy in place and that all employees are familiar with it. By doing so, you can minimize the risk of expenses spiraling out of control and ensure that everyone is happy with the arrangements.

Some ways to ensure that employees know and understand the expense policy are to:

• Send out the policy in a company-wide email every quarter
• Talk about it at all-hands meetings
• Post it on the company intranet
• Provide training on the policy when new employees join the company

How to calculate and track business travel expenses

When it comes to business travel, Admins and those in expense management are always looking for ways to make the process more efficient and cost-effective. Fortunately, there are a few simple steps that can make a big difference when it comes time to report on quarterly or yearly travel spending.

Keep track of all travel expenses

The first step is to make sure that all travel expenses are being tracked. This can be done using a variety of methods, such as expense reports, credit card statements, or receipts.

Classify expenses by type

Once all of the expenses have been collected, they can then be classified by type. This will make it easier to see where the majority of the spending is taking place and will help to identify any areas where costs could be reduced.

Calculate the total cost of travel

The next step is to calculate the total cost of travel. This can be done by adding up all of the expenses for each trip or by using a software program that will automatically calculate the total cost based on the information that is entered.

Track spending over time

Once the total cost of travel has been calculated, it is then possible to track spending over time. This can be done by creating a spreadsheet or using software that will allow you to track spending on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Compare spending to budget

The final step is to compare the total travel spending to the budget that was set at the beginning of the year. This will help to identify any areas where spending is exceeding the budget and will allow for corrective action to be taken.

By following these steps, Admins and those in expense management will be able to track and report on business travel expenses more effectively. This will ultimately lead to a better understanding of where the company's money is being spent and will help to identify areas where costs can be reduced.

How to reduce travel expenses for small businesses

• Use public transportation

When possible, use public transportation instead of renting a car. This can be a great way to save money, as well as avoiding the hassle of dealing with parking and traffic.

• Book in advance

Another way to save money on business travel is to book your flights and hotel rooms in advance. This will allow you to take advantage of early-bird discounts and will ensure that you get the best possible rates.

• Stay in budget hotels

There is no need to stay in a luxury hotel when traveling for business. There are many budget-friendly options that will still provide a comfortable place to stay.

• Save on entertainment expenses

When it comes to entertainment, there are many free or low-cost options available. Instead of going to a fancy restaurant or bar, consider going for a walk or exploring the local area.

By taking a few simple steps, it is possible to save money on business travel without compromising the quality of the trip. By using public transportation, booking in advance, and staying in budget hotels, small businesses can save money on travel expenses. Additionally, bringing your own food and saving on entertainment expenses can help to further reduce the cost of business travel. Finally, don't forget to recover the tax on your business travel expenses!

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• Per Diem Lookup

Frequently asked questions, per diem

What is per diem?

How do I find the per diem rate for (city/county, state)?

What is the difference between non-standard areas (NSA) and standard CONUS locations?

How are the CONUS per diem rates set for NSAs?

How does GSA set boundary lines for where per diem rates apply?

How can a CONUS non-standard area (NSA) receive a special review?

How can I request the establishment of a new NSA?

What if a city is not listed on the CONUS Per Diem website?

Can hotels refuse to honor the per diem rate to federal government employees and federal government contractors?

Is the hotel’s GOV rate the same as the federal per diem rate?

Are lodging taxes included in the CONUS per diem rate?

Are taxes and gratuity (tips) included in the Meals and Incidental (M&IE) expense rate?

What is considered an incidental expense?

How often is a study conducted on the M&IE expense rates?

What is the M&IE reimbursement rate during the first and last travel day?

Can I combine the lodging and M&IE per diem rates ("mix and match") in order to get a nicer hotel room or spend more on meals?

Do I need to provide receipts?

What do I do if there are no hotels available at per diem?

Do I receive a meal reimbursement for day travel away from my regular duty station?

How much per diem can I pay a contractor?

How much can a trucker deduct for meals per day?

Per diem is an allowance for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) establishes the per diem reimbursement rates that federal agencies use to reimburse their employees for subsistence expenses incurred while on official travel within the continental U.S. (CONUS), which includes the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) establishes rates for travel in non-foreign areas outside of CONUS, which includes Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories and possessions. The U.S. Department of State establishes rates for travel in foreign areas. For more information on rates established by DOD and the State Department visit travel.dod.mil and aoprals.state.gov .

Please visit www.gsa.gov/perdiem  to find the rates. Click on a state on the map to view that state's rates or enter the location in the search box. Even though some cities are listed for your lookup convenience, not all cities can or will be listed. To look up the county a destination is located in, visit the Census Geocoder . If neither the city nor county you are looking for is listed on the GSA per diem rate page, then the standard CONUS rate applies.

Non-standard areas (NSAs) are frequently traveled by the federal community and are reviewed on an annual basis. Standard CONUS locations are less frequently traveled by the federal community and are not specifically listed on our website.

Per diem rates are set based upon contractor-provided average daily rate (ADR) data of local lodging properties. The properties must be fire-safe and have a FEMA ID number. The ADR is a travel industry metric that divides room sales rental revenue by the number of rooms sold. All rates are evaluated to ensure that they are fair and equitable in the GSA and Office of Management and Budget approval process. For more detailed information, visit the Factors Influencing Lodging Rates page.

5 U.S.C § 5702 gives the Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) the authority to establish the system of reimbursing Federal employees for the subsistence expenses (lodging, meals, and incidentals) of official travel. The law governs how GSA sets rates today, and allows the GSA Administrator to establish locality-based allowances for these expenses with a reporting requirement back to Congress. The law was established to protect Federal employees by fairly reimbursing them for travel expenses. In addition, if a Federal employee cannot find a room within the established per diem rates, the travel policy allows the agency to reimburse the actual hotel charges up to 300 percent of the established per diem rates.

The per diem program has several standards that it follows in its systematic structured per diem methodology. The first level is having a "standard rate" that applies to approximately 85 percent of counties in the continental United States.

It is GSA's policy that, if and when a Federal agency, on behalf of its employees, requests that the standard rate is not adequate in a specific area to cover costs of travel as intended by the law, GSA will study the locality to determine whether the locality under study should become a "non-standard area." If the study recommends a change, a change will be implemented as deemed appropriate. GSA has implemented a process to review and update both the standard and non-standard areas annually.

The standard "boundary line" for where non-standard areas apply is generally one county. This is the case for approximately 85 percent of the non-standard rates that GSA sets. However, in some cases, agencies have requested that the rate apply to an area larger than one county, such as a metropolitan area. In a very small number of cases, an agency can and has requested that a rate apply to just a city and not the entire county. In some rural areas, a rate sometimes applies to more than one county due to lack of an adequate data sample to set a rate otherwise.

GSA uses the Federal Information Processing Series (FIPS) code standard for its apply areas. While GSA often uses ZIP codes to select hotel data samples, the apply area is coded by a FIPS code, unless a Federal agency only wants the rate to apply to certain ZIP codes. These codes are managed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to ensure uniform identification of geographic entities through all federal government agencies.

In order for GSA to conduct a "special" review of a non-standard area (NSA) during the current fiscal year, a Federal Agency Travel Manager or an equivalent individual in grade or title must submit a signed letter on agency letterhead or stationery stating that the present per diem rate is inadequate. The request should contain the following information:

• The geographical areas you want us to study, especially ZIP codes.
• The property names (including addresses, ZIP codes, and rates) where your federal travelers stay while on temporary duty travel and those properties (including addresses, ZIP codes, and rates) that will not honor the federal lodging per diem rate.
• The number of times actual expenses were used and/or federal travelers had to use another lodging facility to stay within the maximum allowable lodging per diem rate, which resulted in additional transportation expenses (rental car, taxi) being incurred.

All valid requests postmarked no later than 12/31 will be eligible for this review. All valid requests received after 12/31, but before 4/1 will be evaluated during the following fiscal year's annual review cycle. After all the requirements are submitted, GSA will obtain updated data from our contractor to determine whether a per diem rate should be increased, decreased or remain unchanged. We will conduct no more than one "special" review for a particular NSA annually.

Letters should be sent to: General Services Administration, Office of Government-wide Policy, 1800 F St. NW., Washington, DC 20405. For more direct service, please also scan and email your request (a signed letter on agency letterhead must be attached) to [email protected] .

The procedure and the request deadline are the same as FAQ #6. However, requests received after 3/31 will not be included in the following fiscal year's annual review cycle because the annual review will have already begun.

If a city is not listed, check to ensure that the county within which it is located is also not listed. Visit the Census Geocoder to determine the county a destination is located in. If the city is not listed, but the county is, then the per diem rate is the rate for that entire county. If the city and the county are not listed, then that area receives the standard CONUS location rate.

Hotels are not required to honor the federal per diem rates. It is each property’s business decision whether or not to offer the rate. Hotels also may or may not choose to extend the rate to other individuals, such as government contractors.

Hotels sometimes offer a "GOV" rate, which might be different than the federal per diem rate. If it is higher, you need to receive approval for actual expense prior to travel in order to receive full reimbursement. It is the traveler’s responsibility to know the federal per diem reimbursement rates, and should not assume a GOV rate is the same as the federal per diem rate. See the FTR Chapter 301, Subpart D-Actual Expense and follow your agency's guidelines.

Lodging taxes are not included in the CONUS per diem rate. The Federal Travel Regulation 301-11.27 states that in CONUS, lodging taxes paid by the federal traveler are reimbursable as a miscellaneous travel expense limited to the taxes on reimbursable lodging costs. For foreign areas, lodging taxes have not been removed from the foreign per diem rates established by the Department of State. Separate claims for lodging taxes incurred in foreign areas not allowed. Some states and local governments may exempt federal travelers from the payment of taxes. For more information regarding tax exempt status, travelers should visit the State Tax Forms page.

Yes, the meals and incidental expense (M&IE) rate does include taxes and tips in the rate, so travelers will not be reimbursed separately for those items.

The Federal Travel Regulation Chapter 300, Part 300-3 , under Per Diem Allowance, describes incidental expenses as: Fees and tips given to porters, baggage carriers, hotel staff, and staff on ships.

An M&IE study has traditionally been conducted every three to five years. Based upon the recommendations of the Governmentwide Travel Advisory Committee, GSA began reviewing rates every three years starting with rates for FY 2016.

On the first and last travel day, Federal employees are only eligible for 75 percent of the total M&IE rate for their temporary duty travel location (not the official duty station location). For your convenience, the M&IE breakdown page has a table showing the calculated amount for the "First and Last Day of Travel."

For federal employees, the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) does not make a provision for "mixing and matching" reimbursement rates. The lodging per diem rates are a maximum amount; the traveler only receives actual lodging costs up to that maximum rate. Therefore, there is no "extra" lodging per diem to add to the M&IE rate. Likewise, the M&IE per diem cannot be given up or transferred to lodging costs. See FTR 301-11.100 and 301-11.101 for more information.

For any official temporary travel destination, you must provide a receipt to substantiate your claimed travel expenses for lodging and receipts for any authorized expenses incurred costing over $75, or a reason acceptable to your agency explaining why you are unable to provide the necessary receipt (see Federal Travel Regulation 301-11.25 ).

You may ask your agency to authorize the actual expense allowance provision. The Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) 301-11.300 through 306 notes that if lodging is not available at your temporary duty location, your agency may authorize or approve the maximum per diem rate of up to 300% of per diem for the location where lodging is obtained. You should also ensure you have checked www.fedrooms.com to confirm there are no rooms available at per diem in the area where you need to travel.

According to the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR), travelers are entitled to 75% of the prescribed meals and incidental expenses for one day travel away from your official station if it is longer than 12 hours. Please see FTR 301-11.101 .

GSA establishes per diem rates and related policies for federal travelers on official travel only, and cannot address specific inquiries concerning the payment of contractors. If the contractor is on a federal contract, check with the contracting officer to see what is stated in their contract. Contractors should also check the travel regulations of their company.

GSA establishes per diem rates, along with its policies for federal employees on official travel only. Truck-related questions should be addressed either to the Department of Transportation ( www.dot.gov ) or the Internal Revenue Service ( www.irs.gov ).

PER DIEM LOOK-UP

1 choose a location.

Error, The Per Diem API is not responding. Please try again later.

No results could be found for the location you've entered.

Rates for Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. Territories and Possessions are set by the Department of Defense .

Rates for foreign countries are set by the State Department .

2 Choose a date

Rates are available between 10/1/2021 and 09/30/2024.

The End Date of your trip can not occur before the Start Date.

Traveler reimbursement is based on the location of the work activities and not the accommodations, unless lodging is not available at the work activity, then the agency may authorize the rate where lodging is obtained.

Unless otherwise specified, the per diem locality is defined as "all locations within, or entirely surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city, including independent entities located within those boundaries."

Per diem localities with county definitions shall include "all locations within, or entirely surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city as well as the boundaries of the listed counties, including independent entities located within the boundaries of the key city and the listed counties (unless otherwise listed separately)."

When a military installation or Government - related facility(whether or not specifically named) is located partially within more than one city or county boundary, the applicable per diem rate for the entire installation or facility is the higher of the rates which apply to the cities and / or counties, even though part(s) of such activities may be located outside the defined per diem locality.

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How employees can claim travel expenses.

Claiming travel expenses can be quite a tricky area, but it’s one that affects a large portion of the working population.

Thousands of workers across the UK have to travel in some form or another for work. There are a number of reasons to travel. Whether they’re travelling to visit a client, heading to a conference or simply running errands for the business.

HMRC offers a tax relief for any costs incurred whilst you are on the road for work-related reasons. These are known as travel expenses.

For one reason or another, lots of taxpayers aren’t making full use of this tax relief. Thousands of workers aren’t claiming back the travel expenses that they are entitled to.

So, what exactly are travel expenses? And how do you claim this rebate?

We’ll take a closer look at everything you need to know about how employees can claim travel expenses.

Here’s What We’ll Cover:

What Are Travel Expenses?

What counts as a travel expense, what counts as business travel, what counts as a workplace, can i claim travel expenses if i work from home, how can i claim for travel expenses, how much can i claim, key takeaways.

As the name suggests, travel expenses are expenses incurred whilst travelling. In this case, they are expenses incurred whilst travelling for business purposes. These expenses include transport costs, meals and vehicle mileage among a number of others.

As with all legitimate business expenses, companies and employees are able to claim tax relief on these costs. This is because if the expenses tick all of the required boxes, business travel is free from tax.

This is why it makes financial sense for both companies and individual employees to keep track and claim tax relief on business trips.

HMRC may provide tax relief on business-related travel expenses, also known as HMRC travel expenses , if the costs fall into the following categories:

• Public transport costs
• Hotel accommodation if you have to stay overnight
• Food and drink
• Parking fees
• Congestion charges and tolls
• Business phone calls
• Printing costs

Essentially, as long as any of the above occurs during business travel then the company should be able to claim relief.

According to HMRC, to be eligible to claim for relief if you have to be travelling for a ‘business purpose’.

Simply put, you can claim for any trip that’s outside your everyday commute to and from work. The journey you take to and from work is classed as regular commuting and is not seen as counting as a business trip by HMRC.

You can, however, claim for journeys that fall under a business category. They also require you to travel to a location that isn’t your place of work or your home.

For example, this may mean you driving to:

• An office location that isn’t your usual base of operations.
• An event, such as a work-related conference or seminar.
• A customer’s workplace for a business meeting.
• A training centre for a required training course.
• A temporary separate office if your usual office is out of action.

There are two types of workplaces that are recognised by HMRC. Those are:

Permanent Workplaces

This is judged by HMRC looking at how much of an employee’s time is spent at a particular workplace and if they are regularly there or not.

There isn’t a particularly large requirement for a place being a permanent workplace. For example, if an employee goes somewhere just once a week this is almost always counted as a permanent workplace.

HMRC defines it as:

“If the task is going to last more than 24 months and the employee is going to spend more than 40% of their time on-site, the workplace where the task is carried out becomes permanent.”

Temporary Workplaces

A workplace is defined as temporary if an employee only goes there for a short-term task. Travel to and from a temporary workplace can be counted as business travel, not normal commuting.

This means that you can claim expenses for business travel if you are travelling between both permanent and temporary workplaces.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a huge increase in employees working from home.

According to HMRC, if an employee works from home for no other reason than convenience, then any home-to-work journeys count as normal commuting.

However, if an employee works from home because their job requires them to, then that changes. Let’s say that their employer doesn’t provide the facilities on-site, then your home becomes a workplace. This means that travel from your home to other workplaces becomes business travel.

To claim for travel expenses as a form of relief, you will need to have detailed records to back up your claim. These could include:

• Details of Your Journeys: This may be a diary of locations visited and the dates that you made the trip.
• Pay Slips: If your payslips show your business mileage or lodging costs paid by your employer then they can be used as evidence.
• Receipts for Accommodation: You will need to provide the receipts for travel expenses and/or sustenance expenses.

To claim your travel expenses as an actual expense you have to file a claim with HMRC. You have up to four years from the end of the tax year to claim it.

To make a claim, you must:

• Keep a record of your business-related mileage expenses.
• Multiply your yearly mileage by the current AMAP mileage rate and deduct your employer’s mileage allowance, if any.
• If it is under £2,500, you can file your claim on your self-assessment tax return.
• If your claim is over £2,500 then you must file a self-assessment tax return.

In terms of how much you can claim, it depends on a number of factors:

• How much you have spent.
• How much tax you have paid.
• If your employer has reimbursed you.

There may be a scenario where an employer has paid their employee some percentage of their travelling expenses. If that is the case then they may still be eligible to claim for travel expenses if:

• The allowance doesn’t cover the full cost of your expenses.
• The allowance paid by the employer is then taxed.
• The employee uses their own car and the mileage allowance is less than the government-approved rates.

It’s important for both business owners and employees to know how much they can claim and what they can claim for.

The amount of tax relief you can claim can really add up and make a difference to your overall bottom line. It is a form of relief that any business is entitled to so it should be utilised.

To keep track of your business expenses and business miles, try using expense tracking software such as FreshBooks.

Are you looking for more business advice on everything from starting a new business to new business practices?

Then check out the FreshBooks Resource Hub .

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Publication 502 - Introductory Material

For the latest information about developments related to Pub. 502, such as legislation enacted after it was published, go to IRS.gov/Pub502 .

Standard mileage rate. The standard mileage rate allowed for operating expenses for a car when you use it for medical reasons is 22 cents a mile. See Transportation under What Medical Expenses Are Includible , later.

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Introduction

This publication explains the itemized deduction for medical and dental expenses that you claim on Schedule A (Form 1040). It discusses what expenses, and whose expenses, you can and can't include in figuring the deduction. It explains how to treat reimbursements and how to figure the deduction. It also tells you how to report the deduction on your tax return and what to do if you sell medical property or receive damages for a personal injury.

Medical expenses include dental expenses, and in this publication the term “medical expenses” is often used to refer to medical and dental expenses.

You can deduct on Schedule A (Form 1040) only the part of your medical and dental expenses that is more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI).

This publication also explains how to treat impairment-related work expenses and health insurance premiums if you are self-employed.

Pub. 502 covers many common medical expenses but not every possible medical expense. If you can't find the expense you are looking for, refer to the definition of medical expenses under What Are Medical Expenses , later.

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Publication 502 - Main Contents

Medical expenses are the costs of diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and for the purpose of affecting any part or function of the body. These expenses include payments for legal medical services rendered by physicians, surgeons, dentists, and other medical practitioners. They include the costs of equipment, supplies, and diagnostic devices needed for these purposes.

Medical care expenses must be primarily to alleviate or prevent a physical or mental disability or illness. They don't include expenses that are merely beneficial to general health, such as vitamins or a vacation.

Medical expenses include the premiums you pay for insurance that covers the expenses of medical care, and the amounts you pay for transportation to get medical care. Medical expenses also include amounts paid for qualified long-term care services and limited amounts paid for any qualified long-term care insurance contract.

What Expenses Can You Include This Year?

You can include only the medical and dental expenses you paid this year, but generally not payments for medical or dental care you will receive in a future year. (But see Decedent under Whose Medical Expenses Can You Include , later, for an exception.) This is not the rule for determining whether an expense can be reimbursed by a flexible spending arrangement (FSA). If you pay medical expenses by check, the day you mail or deliver the check is generally the date of payment. If you use a “pay-by-phone” or “online” account to pay your medical expenses, the date reported on the statement of the financial institution showing when payment was made is the date of payment. If you use a credit card, include medical expenses you charge to your credit card in the year the charge is made, not when you actually pay the amount charged.

If you didn't claim a medical or dental expense that would have been deductible in an earlier year, you can file Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, to claim a refund for the year in which you overlooked the expense. Don't claim the expense on this year's return. Generally, a claim for refund must be filed within 3 years from the date the original return was filed or within 2 years from the time the tax was paid, whichever is later.

You can't include medical expenses that were paid by insurance companies or other sources. This is true whether the payments were made directly to you, to the patient, or to the provider of the medical services.

If you and your spouse live in a noncommunity property state and file separate returns, each of you can include only the medical expenses each actually paid. Any medical expenses paid out of a joint checking account in which you and your spouse have the same interest are considered to have been paid equally by each of you, unless you can show otherwise.

If you and your spouse live in a community property state and file separate returns or are registered domestic partners in Nevada, Washington, or California, any medical expenses paid out of community funds are divided equally. Generally, each of you should include half the expenses. If medical expenses are paid out of the separate funds of one individual, only the individual who paid the medical expenses can include them. If you live in a community property state and aren't filing a joint return, see Pub. 555, Community Property.

Generally, you can deduct on Schedule A (Form 1040) only the amount of your medical and dental expenses that is more than 7.5% of your AGI.

Whose Medical Expenses Can You Include?

You can generally include medical expenses you pay for yourself, as well as those you pay for someone who was your spouse or your dependent either when the services were provided or when you paid for them. There are different rules for decedents and for individuals who are the subject of multiple support agreements. See Support claimed under a multiple support agreement , later, under Qualifying Relative .

You can include medical expenses you paid for your spouse. To include these expenses, you must have been married either at the time your spouse received the medical services or at the time you paid the medical expenses.

Your spouse received medical treatment before you were married. You paid for the treatment after getting married. You can include these expenses in figuring your medical expense deduction even if you and your spouse file separate returns.

If your spouse had paid the expenses, you couldn't include your spouse’s expenses on your separate return. The amounts your spouse paid during the year would be included on their separate return. If you filed a joint return, the medical expenses both of you paid during the year would be used to figure the medical expense deduction.

This year, you paid medical expenses for your spouse, Kitt, who died last year. You married Royal this year and the two of you file a joint return. Because you were married to Kitt when Kitt received the medical services, you can include those expenses in figuring your medical expense deduction for this year.

You can include medical expenses you paid for your dependent. For you to include these expenses, the person must have been your dependent either at the time the medical services were provided or at the time you paid the expenses. A person generally qualifies as your dependent for purposes of the medical expense deduction if both of the following requirements are met.

The person was a qualifying child (defined later) or a qualifying relative (defined later).

The person was a U.S. citizen or national or a resident of the United States, Canada, or Mexico. If your qualifying child was adopted, see Exception for adopted child , later.

The person received gross income of $4,700 or more in 2023;

The person filed a joint return for 2023; or

You, or your spouse if filing jointly, could be claimed as a dependent on someone else's 2023 return.

If you are a U.S. citizen or national and your adopted child lived with you as a member of your household for 2023, that child doesn't have to be a U.S. citizen or national, or a resident of the United States, Canada, or Mexico.

Qualifying Child

A qualifying child is a child who:

Is your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, or a descendant of any of them (for example, your grandchild, niece, or nephew);

Under age 19 at the end of 2023 and younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly),

Under age 24 at the end of 2023, a full-time student, and younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly), or

Any age and permanently and totally disabled;

Lived with you for more than half of 2023;

Didn't provide over half of their own support for 2023; and

Didn't file a joint return, other than to claim a refund.

A legally adopted child is treated as your own child. This child includes a child lawfully placed with you for legal adoption.

You can include medical expenses that you paid for a child before adoption if the child qualified as your dependent when the medical services were provided or when the expenses were paid.

If you pay back an adoption agency or other persons for medical expenses they paid under an agreement with you, you are treated as having paid those expenses provided you clearly substantiate that the payment is directly attributable to the medical care of the child.

But if you pay the agency or other person for medical care that was provided and paid for before adoption negotiations began, you can't include them as medical expenses.

For purposes of the medical and dental expenses deduction, a child of divorced or separated parents can be treated as a dependent of both parents. Each parent can include the medical expenses they pay for the child if:

The child is in the custody of one or both parents for more than half the year;

The child receives over half of the child’s support during the year from the parents; and

The child's parents:

Are divorced or legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance,

Are separated under a written separation agreement, or

Live apart at all times during the last 6 months of the year.

Qualifying Relative

A qualifying relative is a person:

Who is your:

Son, daughter, stepchild, or foster child, or a descendant of any of them (for example, your grandchild),

Brother, sister, half brother, half sister, or a son or daughter of any of them,

Father, mother, or an ancestor or sibling of either of them (for example, your grandmother, grandfather, aunt, or uncle),

Stepbrother, stepsister, stepfather, stepmother, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law, or

Any other person (other than your spouse) who lived with you all year as a member of your household if your relationship didn't violate local law,

Who wasn't a qualifying child (see Qualifying Child , earlier) of any taxpayer for 2023, and

For whom you provided over half of the support in 2023. But see Child of divorced or separated parents , earlier, Support claimed under a multiple support agreement next, and Kidnapped child under Qualifying Relative in Pub. 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

If you are considered to have provided more than half of a qualifying relative's support under a multiple support agreement, you can include medical expenses you pay for that person. A multiple support agreement is used when two or more people provide more than half of a person's support, but no one alone provides more than half.

Any medical expenses paid by others who joined you in the agreement can't be included as medical expenses by anyone. However, you can include the entire unreimbursed amount you paid for medical expenses.

You and your three siblings each provide one-fourth of your parent’s total support. Under a multiple support agreement, you treat your parent as your dependent. You paid all of your parent’s medical expenses. Your siblings repaid you for three-fourths of these expenses. In figuring your medical expense deduction, you can include only one-fourth of your parent’s medical expenses. Your siblings can't include any part of the expenses. However, if you and your siblings share the nonmedical support items and you separately pay all of your parent’s medical expenses, you can include the unreimbursed amount you paid for your parent’s medical expenses in your medical expenses.

Medical expenses paid before death by the decedent are included in figuring any deduction for medical and dental expenses on the decedent's final income tax return. This includes expenses for the decedent's spouse and dependents as well as for the decedent.

The survivor or personal representative of a decedent can choose to treat certain expenses paid by the decedent's estate for the decedent's medical care as paid by the decedent at the time the medical services were provided. The expenses must be paid within the 1-year period beginning with the day after the date of death. If you are the survivor or personal representative making this choice, you must attach a statement to the decedent's Form 1040 or 1040-SR (or the decedent's amended return, Form 1040-X) saying that the expenses haven't been and won't be claimed on the estate tax return.

Form 1040-X can be filed for the year or years the expenses are treated as paid, unless the period for claiming a refund has passed. Generally, a claim for refund must be filed within 3 years of the date the original return was filed, or within 2 years from the time the tax was paid, whichever date is later.

Hudson properly filed a 2022 income tax return. Hudson died in 2023 with unpaid medical expenses of $1,500 from 2022 and $1,800 in 2023. If the expenses are paid within the 1-year period, Hudson’s survivor or personal representative can file an amended return for 2022 claiming a deduction based on the $1,500 medical expenses. The $1,800 of medical expenses from 2023 can be included on the decedent's final return for 2023.

If you paid medical expenses for your deceased spouse or dependent, include them as medical expenses on your Schedule A (Form 1040) in the year paid, whether they are paid before or after the decedent's death. The expenses can be included if the person was your spouse or dependent either at the time the medical services were provided or at the time you paid the expenses.

What Medical Expenses Are Includible?

Following is a list of items that you can include in figuring your medical expense deduction. The items are listed in alphabetical order.

This list doesn't include all possible medical expenses. To determine if an expense not listed can be included in figuring your medical expense deduction, see What Are Medical Expenses , earlier.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for a legal abortion.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for acupuncture.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for an inpatient's treatment at a therapeutic center for alcohol addiction. This includes meals and lodging provided by the center during treatment.

You can also include in medical expenses amounts you pay for transportation to and from alcohol recovery support organization (for example, Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings in your community if the attendance is pursuant to competent medical advice that membership in the alcohol recovery support organization is necessary for the treatment of a disease involving the excessive use of alcohol.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for ambulance service.

See Physical Examination , later.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for an artificial limb.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for artificial teeth.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of medical supplies such as bandages.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for birth control pills prescribed by a doctor.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of an electronic body scan.

You can include in medical expenses the part of the cost of Braille books and magazines for use by a visually impaired person that is more than the cost of regular printed editions.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of breast pumps and supplies that assist lactation. This doesn’t include the costs of excess bottles for food storage.

You can include in medical expenses the amounts you pay for breast reconstruction surgery, as well as breast prosthesis, following a mastectomy for cancer. See Cosmetic Surgery , later.

Capital Expenses

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for special equipment installed in a home, or for improvements, if their main purpose is medical care for you, your spouse, or your dependent. The cost of permanent improvements that increase the value of your property may be partly included as a medical expense. The cost of the improvement is reduced by the increase in the value of your property. The difference is a medical expense. If the value of your property isn't increased by the improvement, the entire cost is included as a medical expense.

Certain improvements made to accommodate a home to your disabled condition, or that of your spouse or your dependents who live with you, don't usually increase the value of the home and the cost can be included in full as medical expenses. These improvements include, but aren't limited to, the following items.

Constructing entrance or exit ramps for your home.

Widening doorways at entrances or exits to your home.

Widening or otherwise modifying hallways and interior doorways.

Installing railings, support bars, or other modifications to bathrooms.

Lowering or modifying kitchen cabinets and equipment.

Moving or modifying electrical outlets and fixtures.

Installing porch lifts and other forms of lifts (but elevators generally add value to the house).

Modifying fire alarms, smoke detectors, and other warning systems.

Modifying stairways.

Adding handrails or grab bars anywhere (whether or not in bathrooms).

Modifying hardware on doors.

Modifying areas in front of entrance and exit doorways.

Grading the ground to provide access to the residence.

Only reasonable costs to accommodate a home to your disabled condition are considered medical care. Additional costs for personal motives, such as for architectural or aesthetic reasons, aren't medical expenses.

Use Worksheet A to figure the amount of your capital expense to include in your medical expenses.

Worksheet A. Capital Expense Worksheet

Amounts you pay for operation and upkeep of a capital asset qualify as medical expenses as long as the main reason for them is medical care. This rule applies even if none or only part of the original cost of the capital asset qualified as a medical care expense.

Amounts paid to buy and install special plumbing fixtures for a person with a disability, mainly for medical reasons, in a rented house are medical expenses.

You have arthritis and a heart condition. You can't climb stairs or get into a bathtub. On the doctor's advice, you install a bathroom with a shower stall on the first floor of your two-story rented house. The landlord didn't pay any of the cost of buying and installing the special plumbing and didn't lower the rent. You can include the entire amount you paid as medical expenses.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of special hand controls and other special equipment installed in a car for the use of a person with a disability.

You can include in medical expenses the difference between the cost of a regular car and a car specially designed to hold a wheelchair.

The includible costs of using a car for medical reasons are explained under Transportation , later.

You can include in medical expenses fees you pay to a chiropractor for medical care.

You can include in medical expenses fees you pay to Christian Science practitioners for medical care.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for contact lenses needed for medical reasons. You can also include the cost of equipment and materials required for using contact lenses, such as saline solution and enzyme cleaner. See Eyeglasses and Eye Surgery , later.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay to buy or rent crutches.

You can include in medical expenses the amounts you pay for the prevention and alleviation of dental disease. Preventive treatment includes the services of a dental hygienist or dentist for such procedures as teeth cleaning, the application of sealants, and fluoride treatments to prevent tooth decay. Treatment to alleviate dental disease includes services of a dentist for procedures such as X-rays, fillings, braces, extractions, dentures, and other dental ailments. But see Teeth Whitening under What Expenses Aren't Includible , later.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of devices used in diagnosing and treating illness and disease.

You have diabetes and use a blood sugar test kit to monitor your blood sugar level. You can include the cost of the blood sugar test kit in your medical expenses.

Some disabled dependent care expenses may qualify as either:

Medical expenses, or

Work-related expenses for purposes of taking a credit for dependent care. See Pub. 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for an inpatient's treatment at a therapeutic center for drug addiction. This includes meals and lodging provided by the center during treatment.

You can also include in medical expenses amounts you pay for transportation to and from drug treatment meetings in your community if the attendance is pursuant to competent medical advice that the membership is necessary for the treatment of a disease involving the excessive use of drugs.

See Medicines , later.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for eye examinations.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for eyeglasses and contact lenses needed for medical reasons. See Contact Lenses , earlier, for more information.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for eye surgery to treat defective vision, such as laser eye surgery or radial keratotomy.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of the following procedures performed on yourself, your spouse, or your dependent to overcome an inability to have children.

Procedures such as in vitro fertilization (including temporary storage of eggs or sperm).

Surgery, including an operation to reverse prior surgery that prevented the person operated on from having children.

See Lifetime Care—Advance Payments , later.

You can include in medical expenses the costs of buying, training, and maintaining a guide dog or other service animal to assist a visually impaired or hearing disabled person, or a person with other physical disabilities. In general, this includes any costs, such as food, grooming, and veterinary care, incurred in maintaining the health and vitality of the service animal so that it may perform its duties.

You can include in medical expenses fees you pay for treatment at a health institute only if the treatment is prescribed by a physician and the physician issues a statement that the treatment is necessary to alleviate a physical or mental disability or illness of the individual receiving the treatment.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay to entitle you, your spouse, or a dependent to receive medical care from an HMO. These amounts are treated as medical insurance premiums. See Insurance Premiums , later.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of a hearing aid and batteries, repairs, and maintenance needed to operate it.

See Nursing Services , later.

See Capital Expenses , earlier.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for the cost of inpatient care at a hospital or similar institution if a principal reason for being there is to receive medical care. This includes amounts paid for meals and lodging. Also see Lodging , later.

You can include in medical expenses insurance premiums you pay for policies that cover medical care. You can't include in medical expenses insurance premiums that were paid and for which you are claiming a credit or deduction. Medical care policies can provide payment for treatment that includes:

Hospitalization, surgical services, X-rays;

Prescription drugs and insulin;

Dental care;

Replacement of lost or damaged contact lenses; and

Long-term care (subject to additional limitations). See Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance Contracts under Long-Term Care , later.

If you have a policy that provides payments for other than medical care, you can include the premiums for the medical care part of the policy if the charge for the medical part is reasonable. The cost of the medical part must be separately stated in the insurance contract or given to you in a separate statement.

Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Plan

Don't include in your medical and dental expenses any insurance premiums paid by an employer-sponsored health insurance plan unless the premiums are included on your Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Also, don't include any other medical and dental expenses paid by the plan unless the amount paid is included on your Form W-2.

You are a federal employee participating in the premium conversion plan of the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program. Your share of the FEHB premium is paid by making a pre-tax reduction in your salary. Because you are an employee whose insurance premiums are paid with money that is never included in your gross income, you can't deduct the premiums paid with that money.

Contributions made by your employer to provide coverage for qualified long-term care services under a flexible spending or similar arrangement must be included in your income. This amount will be reported as wages on your Form W-2.

If you are a retired public safety officer, don't include as medical expenses any health or long-term care insurance premiums that you elected to have paid with tax-free distributions from a retirement plan. This applies only to distributions that would otherwise be included in income.

If you have medical expenses that are reimbursed by a health reimbursement arrangement, you can't include those expenses in your medical expenses.

If you are covered under social security (or if you are a government employee who paid Medicare tax), you are enrolled in Medicare Part A. The payroll tax paid for Medicare Part A isn't a medical expense.

If you aren't covered under social security (or weren't a government employee who paid Medicare tax), you can voluntarily enroll in Medicare Part A. In this situation, you can include the premiums you paid for Medicare Part A as a medical expense.

Medicare Part B is a supplemental medical insurance. Premiums you pay for Medicare Part B are a medical expense. Check the information you received from the Social Security Administration to find out your premium.

Medicare Part D is a voluntary prescription drug insurance program for persons with Medicare Part A or B. You can include as a medical expense premiums you pay for Medicare Part D.

You can include in medical expenses the amounts you pay for personal protective equipment, such as masks, hand sanitizer and hand sanitizing wipes, for the primary purpose of preventing the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). For more information, see IRS Announcement 2021-7.

Premiums you pay before you are age 65 for insurance for medical care for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents after you reach age 65 are medical care expenses in the year paid if they are:

Payable in equal yearly installments or more often; and

Payable for at least 10 years, or until you reach age 65 (but not for less than 5 years).

You must include in gross income cash payments you receive at the time of retirement for unused sick leave. You must also include in gross income the value of unused sick leave that, at your option, your employer applies to the cost of your continuing participation in your employer's health plan after you retire. You can include this cost of continuing participation in the health plan as a medical expense.

If you participate in a health plan where your employer automatically applies the value of unused sick leave to the cost of your continuing participation in the health plan (and you don't have the option to receive cash), don't include the value of the unused sick leave in gross income. You can't include this cost of continuing participation in that health plan as a medical expense.

Insurance Premiums You Can't Include

You can't include premiums you pay for:

Life insurance policies;

Policies providing payment for loss of earnings;

Policies for loss of life, limb, sight, etc.;

Policies that pay you a guaranteed amount each week for a stated number of weeks if you are hospitalized for sickness or injury;

The part of your car insurance that provides medical insurance coverage for all persons injured in or by your car because the part of the premium providing insurance for you, your spouse, and your dependents isn't stated separately from the part of the premium providing insurance for medical care for others; or

Health or long-term care insurance if you elected to pay these premiums with tax-free distributions from a retirement plan made directly to the insurance provider and these distributions would otherwise have been included in income.

Generally, you can't deduct any additional premium you pay as the result of including on your policy someone who isn't your spouse or dependent, even if that person is your child under age 27. However, you can deduct the additional premium if that person is:

Your child whom you don't claim as a dependent because of the rules for children of divorced or separated parents;

Any person you could have claimed as a dependent on your return except that person received $4,700 or more of gross income or filed a joint return; or

Any person you could have claimed as a dependent except that you, or your spouse if filing jointly, can be claimed as a dependent on someone else's 2023 return.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of keeping a person who is intellectually and developmentally disabled in a special home, not the home of a relative, on the recommendation of a psychiatrist to help the person adjust from life in a mental hospital to community living.

You can include in medical expenses the amounts you pay for laboratory fees that are part of medical care.

See Breast Pumps and Supplies , earlier.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of removing lead-based paints from surfaces in your home to prevent a child who has or had lead poisoning from eating the paint. These surfaces must be in poor repair (peeling or cracking) or within the child's reach. The cost of repainting the scraped area isn't a medical expense.

If, instead of removing the paint, you cover the area with wallboard or paneling, treat these items as capital expenses. See Capital Expenses , earlier. Don't include the cost of painting the wallboard as a medical expense.

See Special Education , later.

You can include in medical expenses legal fees you paid that are necessary to authorize treatment for mental illness. However, you can't include in medical expenses fees for the management of a guardianship estate, fees for conducting the affairs of the person being treated, or other fees that aren't necessary for medical care.

Lifetime Care—Advance Payments

You can include in medical expenses a part of a life-care fee or “founder's fee” you pay either monthly or as a lump sum under an agreement with a retirement home. The part of the payment you include is the amount properly allocable to medical care. The agreement must require that you pay a specific fee as a condition for the home's promise to provide lifetime care that includes medical care. You can use a statement from the retirement home to prove the amount properly allocable to medical care. The statement must be based either on the home's prior experience or on information from a comparable home.

You can include in medical expenses advance payments to a private institution for lifetime care, treatment, and training of your physically or mentally impaired child upon your death or when you become unable to provide care. The payments must be a condition for the institution's future acceptance of your child and must not be refundable.

Generally, you can't include in medical expenses current payments for medical care (including medical insurance) to be provided substantially beyond the end of the year. This rule doesn't apply in situations where the future care is purchased in connection with obtaining lifetime care of the type described earlier.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of meals and lodging at a hospital or similar institution if a principal reason for being there is to receive medical care. See Nursing Home , later.

You may be able to include in medical expenses the cost of lodging not provided in a hospital or similar institution. You can include the cost of such lodging while away from home if all of the following requirements are met.

The lodging is primarily for and essential to medical care.

The medical care is provided by a doctor in a licensed hospital or in a medical care facility related to, or the equivalent of, a licensed hospital.

The lodging isn't lavish or extravagant under the circumstances.

There is no significant element of personal pleasure, recreation, or vacation in the travel away from home.

The amount you include in medical expenses for lodging can't be more than $50 for each night for each person. You can include lodging for a person traveling with the person receiving the medical care. For example, if a parent is traveling with a sick child, up to $100 per night can be included as a medical expense for lodging. Meals aren't included.

Don't include the cost of lodging while away from home for medical treatment if that treatment isn't received from a doctor in a licensed hospital or in a medical care facility related to, or the equivalent of, a licensed hospital or if that lodging isn't primarily for or essential to the medical care received.

Long-Term Care

You can include in medical expenses amounts paid for qualified long-term care services and certain amounts of premiums paid for qualified long-term care insurance contracts.

Qualified Long-Term Care Services

Qualified long-term care services are necessary diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, curing, treating, mitigating, rehabilitative services, and maintenance and personal care services (defined later) that are:

Required by a chronically ill individual, and

Provided pursuant to a plan of care prescribed by a licensed health care practitioner.

An individual is chronically ill if, within the previous 12 months, a licensed health care practitioner has certified that the individual meets either of the following descriptions.

The individual is unable to perform at least two activities of daily living without substantial assistance from another individual for at least 90 days, due to a loss of functional capacity. Activities of daily living are eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing, and continence.

The individual requires substantial supervision to be protected from threats to health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment.

Maintenance or personal care services is care which has as its primary purpose the providing of a chronically ill individual with needed assistance with the individual’s disabilities (including protection from threats to health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment).

A qualified long-term care insurance contract is an insurance contract that provides only coverage of qualified long-term care services. The contract must:

Be guaranteed renewable;

Not provide for a cash surrender value or other money that can be paid, assigned, pledged, or borrowed;

Provide that refunds, other than refunds on the death of the insured or complete surrender or cancellation of the contract, and dividends under the contract must be used only to reduce future premiums or increase future benefits; and

Generally not pay or reimburse expenses incurred for services or items that would be reimbursed under Medicare, except where Medicare is a secondary payer, or the contract makes per diem or other periodic payments without regard to expenses.

The amount of qualified long-term care premiums you can include is limited. You can include the following as medical expenses on Schedule A (Form 1040).

Qualified long-term care premiums up to the following amounts.

Age 40 or under—$480.

Age 41 to 50—$890.

Age 51 to 60—$1,790.

Age 61 to 70—$4,770.

Age 71 or over—$5,960.

Unreimbursed expenses for qualified long-term care services.

Also, if you are an eligible retired public safety officer, you can't include premiums for long-term care insurance if you elected to pay these premiums with tax-free distributions from a qualified retirement plan made directly to the insurance provider and these distributions would otherwise have been included in your income.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of meals at a hospital or similar institution if a principal reason for being there is to get medical care.

You can't include in medical expenses the cost of meals that aren't part of inpatient care. Also see Weight-Loss Program and Nutritional Supplements , later.

You can include in medical expenses amounts paid for admission and transportation to a medical conference if the medical conference concerns the chronic illness of yourself, your spouse, or your dependent. The costs of the medical conference must be primarily for and necessary to the medical care of you, your spouse, or your dependent. The majority of the time spent at the conference must be spent attending sessions on medical information.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for prescribed medicines and drugs. A prescribed drug is one that requires a prescription by a doctor for its use by an individual. You can also include amounts you pay for insulin. Except for insulin, you can't include in medical expenses amounts you pay for a drug that isn't prescribed.

If you imported medicines or drugs from other countries, see Medicines and Drugs From Other Countries under What Expenses Aren't Includible, later.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of medical care in a nursing home, home for the aged, or similar institution, for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents. This includes the cost of meals and lodging in the home if a principal reason for being there is to get medical care.

Don't include the cost of meals and lodging if the reason for being in the home is personal. You can, however, include in medical expenses the part of the cost that is for medical or nursing care.

Nursing Services

You can include in medical expenses wages and other amounts you pay for nursing services. The services need not be performed by a nurse as long as the services are of a kind generally performed by a nurse. This includes services connected with caring for the patient's condition, such as giving medication or changing dressings, as well as bathing and grooming the patient. These services can be provided in your home or another care facility.

Generally, only the amount spent for nursing services is a medical expense. If the attendant also provides personal and household services, amounts paid to the attendant must be divided between the time spent performing household and personal services and the time spent for nursing services. For example, because of your medical condition, you pay a visiting nurse $300 per week for medical and household services. Ten percent of the nurse’s time is spent doing household services such as washing dishes and laundry. You can include only $270 per week as medical expenses. The $30 (10% × $300) allocated to household services can't be included. However, certain maintenance or personal care services provided for qualified long-term care can be included in medical expenses. See Maintenance and personal care services under Long-Term Care , earlier. Additionally, certain expenses for household services or for the care of a qualifying individual incurred to allow you to work may qualify for the child and dependent care credit. See Pub. 503.

You can also include in medical expenses part of the amount you pay for that attendant's meals. Divide the food expense among the household members to find the cost of the attendant's food. Then divide that cost in the same manner as in the preceding paragraph. If you had to pay additional amounts for household upkeep because of the attendant, you can include the extra amounts with your medical expenses. This includes extra rent or utilities you pay because you moved to a larger apartment to provide space for the attendant.

You can include as a medical expense social security tax, FUTA, Medicare tax, and state employment taxes you pay for an attendant who provides medical care. If the attendant also provides personal and household services, you can include as a medical expense only the amount of employment taxes paid for medical services, as explained earlier. For information on employment tax responsibilities of household employers, see Pub. 926.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for legal operations that aren't for cosmetic surgery. See Cosmetic Surgery under What Expenses Aren't Includible , later.

See Eyeglasses , earlier.

See Transplants , later.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay to an osteopath for medical care.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for oxygen and oxygen equipment to relieve breathing problems caused by a medical condition.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for an annual physical examination and diagnostic tests by a physician. You don't have to be ill at the time of the examination.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay to purchase a pregnancy test kit to determine if you are pregnant.

You can't include in medical expenses the amount of health insurance premiums paid by or through the premium tax credit. You also can't include in medical expenses any amount of advance payments of the premium tax credit made that you did not have to pay back. However, any amount of advance payments of the premium tax credit that you did have to pay back can be included in medical expenses.

You are under age 65 and unmarried. The cost of your health insurance premiums in 2023 is $8,700. Advance payments of the premium tax credit of $4,200 are made to the insurance company and you pay premiums of $4,500. On your 2023 tax return, you are allowed a premium tax credit of $3,600 and must repay $600 excess advance credit payments (which is less than the repayment limitation). You are treated as paying $5,100 ($8,700 less the allowed premium tax credit of $3,600) for health insurance premiums in 2023. You will enter $5,100 on Schedule A, line 1.

The facts are the same as in Example 1 , except you are allowed a premium tax credit of $4,900 on your tax return and receive a net premium tax credit of $700. You are treated as paying $3,800 ($8,700 less the allowed premium tax credit of $4,900) for health insurance premiums in 2023. You will enter $3,800 on Schedule A, line 1.

See Artificial Limb and Breast Reconstruction Surgery , earlier.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for psychiatric care. This includes the cost of supporting a mentally ill dependent at a specially equipped medical center where the dependent receives medical care. See Psychoanalysis next and Transportation , later.

You can include in medical expenses payments for psychoanalysis. However, you can't include payments for psychoanalysis that is part of required training to be a psychoanalyst.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay to a psychologist for medical care.

You can include in medical expenses fees you pay on a doctor's recommendation for a child's tutoring by a teacher who is specially trained and qualified to work with children who have learning disabilities caused by mental or physical impairments, including nervous system disorders.

You can include in medical expenses the cost (tuition, meals, and lodging) of attending a school that furnishes special education to help a child to overcome learning disabilities. Overcoming the learning disabilities must be the primary reason for attending the school, and any ordinary education received must be incidental to the special education provided. Special education includes:

Teaching Braille to a visually impaired person,

Teaching lip reading to a hearing disabled person, or

Giving remedial language training to correct a condition caused by a birth defect.

You can't include in medical expenses the cost of sending a child with behavioral problems to a school where the course of study and the disciplinary methods have a beneficial effect on the child's attitude if the availability of medical care in the school isn't a principal reason for sending the student there.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of a legal sterilization (a legally performed operation to make a person unable to have children). Also see Vasectomy , later.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for a program to stop smoking. However, you can't include in medical expenses amounts you pay for drugs that don't require a prescription, such as nicotine gum or patches, that are designed to help stop smoking.

See Operations , earlier.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of special telephone equipment that lets a person who is deaf, hard of hearing, or has a speech disability communicate over a regular telephone. This includes teletypewriter (TTY) and telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) equipment. You can also include the cost of repairing the equipment.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of equipment that displays the audio part of television programs as subtitles for persons with a hearing disability. This may be the cost of an adapter that attaches to a regular set. It may also be the part of the cost of a specially equipped television that exceeds the cost of the same model regular television set.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for therapy received as medical treatment.

You can include in medical expenses amounts paid for medical care you receive because you are a donor or a possible donor of a kidney or other organ. This includes the cost of medical care for the donor, in connection with the donation of an organ to you, your spouse, or dependent. This also includes transportation expenses.

Transportation

You can include in medical expenses amounts paid for transportation primarily for, and essential to, medical care.

Bus, taxi, train, or plane fares or ambulance service;

Transportation expenses of a parent who must go with a child who needs medical care;

Transportation expenses of a nurse or other person who can give injections, medications, or other treatment required by a patient who is traveling to get medical care and is unable to travel alone; and

Transportation expenses for regular visits to see a mentally ill dependent, if these visits are recommended as a part of treatment.

You can include out-of-pocket expenses, such as the cost of gas and oil, when you use a car for medical reasons. You can't include depreciation, insurance, general repair, or maintenance expenses.

If you don't want to use your actual expenses for 2023, you can use the standard medical mileage rate of 22 cents a mile.

You can also include parking fees and tolls. You can add these fees and tolls to your medical expenses whether you use actual expenses or the standard mileage rate.

In 2023, you drove 2,800 miles for medical reasons. You spent $400 for gas, $30 for oil, and $100 for tolls and parking. You want to figure the amount to include in medical expenses both ways to see which gives the greater deduction.

You figure the actual expenses first. You add the $400 for gas, the $30 for oil, and the $100 for tolls and parking for a total of $530.

You then figure the standard mileage amount. You multiply 2,800 miles by 22 cents a mile for a total of $616. Then you add the $100 tolls and parking and mileage for a total of $716 (616 + 100).

You include the $716 of car expenses with the other medical expenses for the year because the $716 is more than the $530 figured using actual expenses.

You can't include in medical expenses the cost of transportation in the following situations.

Going to and from work, even if your condition requires an unusual means of transportation.

Travel for purely personal reasons to another city for an operation or other medical care.

Travel that is merely for the general improvement of one's health.

The costs of operating a specially equipped car for other than medical reasons.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for transportation to another city if the trip is primarily for, and essential to, receiving medical services. You may be able to include up to $50 for each night for each person. You can include lodging for a person traveling with the person receiving the medical care. For example, if a parent is traveling with a sick child, up to $100 per night can be included as a medical expense for lodging. Meals aren't included. See Lodging , earlier.

You can't include in medical expenses a trip or vacation taken merely for a change in environment, improvement of morale, or general improvement of health, even if the trip is made on the advice of a doctor. However, see Medical Conferences , earlier.

Under special circumstances, you can include charges for tuition in medical expenses. See Special Education , earlier.

A lump-sum fee which includes education, board, and medical care—without distinguishing which part of the fee results from medical care—is not considered an amount payable for medical care. However, you can include charges for a health plan included in a lump-sum tuition fee if the charges are separately stated or can easily be obtained from the school.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for a vasectomy.

See Eye Surgery , earlier.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay to lose weight if it is a treatment for a specific disease diagnosed by a physician (such as obesity, hypertension, or heart disease). This includes fees you pay for membership in a weight reduction group as well as fees for attendance at periodic meetings. You can't include membership dues in a gym, health club, or spa as medical expenses, but you can include separate fees charged there for weight loss activities.

You can't include the cost of diet food or beverages in medical expenses because the diet food and beverages substitute for what is normally consumed to satisfy nutritional needs. You can include the cost of special food in medical expenses only if:

The food doesn't satisfy normal nutritional needs,

The food alleviates or treats an illness, and

The need for the food is substantiated by a physician.

You can include in medical expenses the amounts you pay for a wheelchair used for the relief of a sickness or disability. The cost of operating and maintaining the wheelchair is also a medical expense.

You can include in medical expenses the cost of a wig purchased upon the advice of a physician for the mental health of a patient who has lost all of their hair from disease.

You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for X-rays for medical reasons.

What Expenses Aren't Includible?

Following is a list of some items that you can't include in figuring your medical expense deduction. The items are listed in alphabetical order.

You can't include in medical expenses amounts you pay for the care of children, even if the expenses enable you, your spouse, or your dependent to get medical or dental treatment. Also, any expense allowed as a childcare credit can't be treated as an expense paid for medical care.

You can't include in medical expenses amounts you pay for controlled substances (such as marijuana, laetrile, etc.) that aren't legal under federal law, even if such substances are legalized by state law.

Generally, you can't include in medical expenses the amount you pay for cosmetic surgery. This includes any procedure that is directed at improving the patient's appearance and doesn't meaningfully promote the proper function of the body or prevent or treat illness or disease. You generally can't include in medical expenses the amount you pay for procedures such as face lifts, hair transplants, hair removal (electrolysis), and liposuction.

You can include in medical expenses the amount you pay for cosmetic surgery if it is necessary to improve a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or a disfiguring disease.

An individual undergoes surgery that removes a breast as part of treatment for cancer. The individual pays a surgeon to reconstruct the breast. The surgery to reconstruct the breast corrects a deformity directly related to the disease. The cost of the surgery is includible in the individual’s medical expenses.

You can't include in medical expenses the cost of dancing lessons, swimming lessons, etc., even if they are recommended by a doctor, if they are only for the improvement of general health.

You can't include in medical expenses the amount you pay for diapers or diaper services, unless they are needed to relieve the effects of a particular disease.

See Cosmetic Surgery , earlier.

You can't include in medical expenses amounts for which you are fully reimbursed by your flexible spending arrangement if you contribute a part of your income on a pre-tax basis to pay for the qualified benefit.

You can't include in medical expenses amounts you pay for funerals.

Generally, you can't include in medical expenses current payments for medical care (including medical insurance) to be provided substantially beyond the end of the year. This rule doesn't apply in situations where the future care is purchased in connection with obtaining lifetime care, as explained under Lifetime Care—Advance Payments , or qualified long-term care insurance contracts, as explained under Long-Term Care , earlier.

You can't include in medical expenses health club dues or amounts paid to improve one's general health or to relieve physical or mental discomfort not related to a particular medical condition.

You can't include in medical expenses the cost of membership in any club organized for business, pleasure, recreation, or other social purpose.

You can’t include in medical expenses amounts you contribute to a health savings account. You can’t include expenses you pay for with a tax-free distribution from your health savings account. You also can’t use other funds equal to the amount of the distribution and include the expenses. For more information, see Pub. 969.

You can't include in medical expenses the cost of household help, even if such help is recommended by a doctor. This is a personal expense that isn't deductible. However, you may be able to include certain expenses paid to a person providing nursing-type services. For more information, see Nursing Services , earlier, under What Medical Expenses Are Includible . Also, certain maintenance or personal care services provided for qualified long-term care can be included in medical expenses. For more information, see Long-Term Care , earlier, under What Medical Expenses Are Includible.

You can't include in medical expenses amounts you pay for illegal operations, treatments, or controlled substances whether rendered or prescribed by licensed or unlicensed practitioners.

See Insurance Premiums under What Medical Expenses Are Includible , earlier.

You can't include in medical expenses amounts you pay for maternity clothes.

You can't include in medical expenses amounts you contribute to an Archer MSA. You can't include expenses you pay for with a tax-free distribution from your Archer MSA. You also can't use other funds equal to the amount of the distribution and include the expenses. For more information on Archer MSAs, see Pub. 969.

In general, you can't include in your medical expenses the cost of a prescribed drug brought in (or ordered and shipped) from another country. You can only include the cost of a drug that was imported legally. For example, you can include the cost of a prescribed drug the Food and Drug Administration announces can be legally imported by individuals.

You can include the cost of a prescribed drug you purchase and consume in another country if the drug is legal in both the other country and the United States.

Except for insulin, you can't include in medical expenses amounts you pay for a drug that isn't prescribed. A prescribed drug is one that requires a prescription by a doctor for its use by an individual.

Your doctor recommends that you take aspirin. Because aspirin is a drug that doesn't require a physician's prescription for its use by an individual, you can't include its cost in your medical expenses.

You can't include in medical expenses the cost of nutritional supplements, vitamins, herbal supplements, “natural medicines,” etc., unless they are recommended by a medical practitioner as treatment for a specific medical condition diagnosed by a physician. These items are taken to maintain your ordinary good health and aren't for medical care.

You can't include in medical expenses the cost of an item ordinarily used for personal, living, or family purposes unless it is used primarily to prevent or alleviate a physical or mental disability or illness. For example, the cost of a toothbrush and toothpaste is a nondeductible personal expense.

In order to accommodate an individual with a physical disability, you may have to purchase an item ordinarily used as a personal, living, or family item in a special form. You can include the excess of the cost of the item in a special form over the cost of the item in normal form as a medical expense. See Braille Books and Magazines under What Medical Expenses Are Includible , earlier.

You can't include in medical expenses the amounts you pay for the identification, retention, compensation, and medical care of a gestational surrogate because they are paid for an unrelated party who is not you, your spouse, or your dependent.

See Dancing Lessons , earlier.

You can't include in medical expenses amounts paid to whiten teeth. See Cosmetic Surgery , earlier.

You generally can't include veterinary fees in your medical expenses, but see Guide Dog or Other Service Animal under What Medical Expenses Are Includible , earlier.

You can't include in medical expenses the cost of a weight-loss program if the purpose of the weight loss is the improvement of appearance, general health, or sense of well-being. You can't include amounts you pay to lose weight unless the weight loss is a treatment for a specific disease diagnosed by a physician (such as obesity, hypertension, or heart disease). If the weight-loss treatment isn't for a specific disease diagnosed by a physician, you can't include either the fees you pay for membership in a weight-reduction group or fees for attendance at periodic meetings. Also, you can't include membership dues in a gym, health club, or spa.

You can't include the cost of diet food or beverages in medical expenses because the diet food and beverages substitute for what is normally consumed to satisfy nutritional needs.

See Weight-Loss Program under What Medical Expenses Are Includible , earlier.

How Do You Treat Reimbursements?

You can include in medical expenses only those amounts paid during the tax year for which you received no insurance or other reimbursement.

Insurance Reimbursement

You must reduce your total medical expenses for the year by all reimbursements for medical expenses that you receive from insurance or other sources during the year. This includes payments from Medicare.

Even if a policy provides reimbursement only for certain specific medical expenses, you must use amounts you receive from that policy to reduce your total medical expenses, including those it doesn't reimburse.

You have insurance policies that cover your hospital and doctors' bills but not your nursing bills. The insurance you receive for the hospital and doctors' bills is more than their charges. In figuring your medical deduction, you must reduce the total amount you spent for medical care by the total amount of insurance you received, even if the policies don't cover some of your medical expenses.

An HRA is an employer-funded plan that reimburses employees for medical care expenses and allows unused amounts to be carried forward. An HRA is funded solely by the employer and the reimbursements for medical expenses, up to a maximum dollar amount for a coverage period, aren't included in your income.

Generally, you don't reduce medical expenses by payments you receive for:

Permanent loss or loss of use of a member or function of the body (loss of limb, sight, hearing, etc.) or disfigurement to the extent the payment is based on the nature of the injury without regard to the amount of time lost from work, or

Loss of earnings.

You must, however, reduce your medical expenses by any part of these payments that is designated for medical costs. See How Do You Figure and Report the Deduction on Your Tax Return , later.

For how to treat damages received for personal injury or sickness, see Damages for Personal Injuries , later.

What if Your Insurance Reimbursement Is More Than Your Medical Expenses?

If you are reimbursed more than your medical expenses, you may have to include the excess in income. You may want to use Figure 1 to help you decide if any of your reimbursement is taxable.

Reimbursement Taxable?

Figure 1. Is Your Excess Medical Reimbursement Taxable?

Summary: This flowchart is used to determine if any reimbursements you receive for your medical expenses is taxable.

This is the starting of the flowchart.

Decision (1)

Was any part of your premiums paid by your employer?

Decision (2)

Were your employer's contributions to your premiums included in your income?

Process (a)

NONE of the excess reimbursement is taxable.

Decision (3)

Did you pay any part of the premiums?

Process (b)

ALL of the excess reimbursement is taxable.

Process (c)

PART of the excess reimbursement is taxable.

Footnote: See Premiums paid by you and your employer.

This is the ending of the flowchart.

Please click here for the text description of the image.

If you pay either the entire premium for your medical insurance or all the costs of a plan similar to medical insurance and your insurance payments or other reimbursements are more than your total medical expenses for the year, you have excess reimbursement. Generally, you don't include the excess reimbursement in your gross income. However, gross income does include total payments in excess of $420 a day ($153,300 for 2023) for qualified long-term care services.

If both you and your employer contribute to your medical insurance plan and your employer's contributions aren't included in your gross income, you must include in your gross income the part of your excess reimbursement that is from your employer's contribution.

If you aren't covered by more than one policy, you can figure the amount of the excess reimbursement you must include in gross income using Worksheet B. If you are covered under more than one policy, see More than one policy , later.

Worksheet B. Excess Reimbursement Includible in Income When You Have Only One Policy

If your employer or your former employer pays the total cost of your medical insurance plan and your employer's contributions aren't included in your income, you must report all of your excess reimbursement as other income.

If you are covered under more than one policy, the cost of at least one of which is paid by both you and your employer, you must first divide the medical expenses among the policies to figure the excess reimbursement from each policy. Then divide the policy costs to figure the part of any excess reimbursement that is from your employer's contribution. Any excess reimbursement that is due to your employer's contributions is includible in your income.

You can figure the part of the excess reimbursement that is from your employer's contribution by using Worksheet C. Use Worksheet C only if both you and your employer paid part of the cost of at least one policy. If you had more than one policy, but you didn't share in the cost of at least one policy, don't use Worksheet C.

Worksheet C. Excess Reimbursement Includible in Income When You Have More Than One Policy

If you are reimbursed in a later year for medical expenses you deducted in an earlier year, you must generally report the reimbursement as income up to the amount you previously deducted as medical expenses.

However, don't report as income the amount of reimbursement you received up to the amount of your medical deductions that didn't reduce your tax for the earlier year.

For more information about the recovery of an amount that you claimed as an itemized deduction in an earlier year, see Recoveries in Pub. 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income.

If you didn't deduct a medical expense in the year you paid it because your medical expenses weren't more than 7.5% of your AGI or because you didn't itemize deductions, don't include the reimbursement, up to the amount of the expense, in income. However, if the reimbursement is more than the expense, see What if Your Insurance Reimbursement Is More Than Your Medical Expenses , earlier.

How Do You Figure and Report the Deduction on Your Tax Return?

Once you have determined which medical expenses you can include, figure and report the deduction on your tax return.

You report your medical expense deduction on Schedule A (Form 1040). See the Instructions for Schedule A (Form 1040) for more detailed information on figuring your medical and dental expense deduction.

If you deduct the cost of medical equipment or property in one year and sell it in a later year, you may have a taxable gain. The taxable gain is the amount of the selling price that is more than the adjusted basis of the equipment or property.

The adjusted basis is the portion of the cost of the equipment or property that you couldn't deduct because of the 7.5% or 10% AGI limit used to figure your medical deduction. Refer to your Schedule A for the year the cost was included to determine which limit applied to you. Use Worksheet D to figure the adjusted basis of the equipment or property.

Worksheet D. Adjusted Basis of Medical Equipment or Property Sold

Next, use Worksheet E to figure the total gain or loss on the sale of the medical equipment or property.

Worksheet E. Gain or Loss on the Sale of Medical Equipment or Property

If you have a loss, it isn't deductible. If you have a gain, it’s includible in your income. The part of the gain that is a recovery of an amount you previously deducted is taxable as ordinary income. Enter it on Form 1040 or 1040-SR. Any part of the gain that is more than the recovery of an amount you previously deducted is taxable as a capital gain. Enter it on Form 8949, Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets, and Schedule D (Form 1040), Capital Gains and Losses.

For more information about the recovery of an amount that you claimed as an itemized deduction in an earlier year, see Recoveries in Pub. 525.

Damages for Personal Injuries

If you receive an amount in settlement of a personal injury suit, part of that award may be for medical expenses that you deducted in an earlier year. If it is, you must include that part in your income in the year you receive it to the extent it reduced your taxable income in the earlier year. See What if You Receive Insurance Reimbursement in a Later Year , discussed earlier under How Do You Treat Reimbursements.

You sued this year for injuries you suffered in an accident last year. You sought $10,000 for your injuries and didn't itemize your damages. Last year, you paid $500 for medical expenses for your injuries. You deducted those expenses on last year's tax return. This year you settled your lawsuit for $2,000. Your settlement didn't itemize or allocate the damages. The $2,000 is first presumed to be for the medical expenses that you deducted. The $500 is includible in your income this year because you deducted the entire $500 as a medical expense deduction last year.

If you receive an amount in settlement of a damage suit for personal injuries, part of that award may be for future medical expenses. If it is, you must reduce any future medical expenses for these injuries until the amount you received has been completely used.

You were injured in an accident. You sued and sought a judgment of $50,000 for your injuries. You settled the suit for $45,000. The settlement provided that $10,000 of the $45,000 was for future medical expenses for your injuries. You can't include the first $10,000 that you pay for medical expenses for those injuries.

If you received workers' compensation and you deducted medical expenses related to that injury, you must include the workers' compensation in income up to the amount you deducted. If you received workers' compensation, but didn't deduct medical expenses related to that injury, don't include the workers' compensation in your income.

Impairment-Related Work Expenses

If you are a person with disabilities, you can take a business deduction for expenses that are necessary for you to be able to work. If you take a business deduction for these impairment-related work expenses, they aren't subject to the 7.5% limit that applies to medical expenses.

You have a disability if you have:

A physical or mental disability (for example, blindness or deafness) that functionally limits your being employed; or

A physical or mental impairment (for example, a sight or hearing impairment) that substantially limits one or more of your major life activities, such as performing manual tasks, walking, speaking, breathing, learning, or working.

Impairment-related expenses are those ordinary and necessary business expenses that are:

Necessary for you to do your work satisfactorily;

For goods and services not required or used, other than incidentally, in your personal activities; and

Not specifically covered under other income tax laws.

If you are self-employed, deduct the business expenses on the appropriate form (Schedule C, E, or F) used to report your business income and expenses.

If you are an employee, complete Form 2106, Employee Business Expenses. Enter on Schedule A (Form 1040) that part of the amount on Form 2106 that is related to your impairment.

You are blind. You must use a reader to do your work. You use the reader both during your regular working hours at your place of work and outside your regular working hours away from your place of work. The reader's services are only for your work. You can deduct your expenses for the reader as business expenses.

Health Insurance Costs for Self-Employed Persons

If you were self-employed and had a net profit for the year, you may be able to deduct, as an adjustment to income, amounts paid for medical and qualified long-term care insurance on behalf of yourself, your spouse, your dependents, and your children who were under age 27 at the end of 2023. For this purpose, you were self-employed if you were a general partner (or a limited partner receiving guaranteed payments) or you received wages from an S corporation in which you were more than a 2% shareholder. The insurance plan must be established under your trade or business and the deduction can't be more than your earned income from that trade or business.

You can't deduct payments for medical insurance for any month in which you were eligible to participate in a health plan subsidized by your employer, your spouse's employer, or an employer of your dependent, or your child under age 27, at the end of 2023. You can't deduct payments for a qualified long-term care insurance contract for any month in which you were eligible to participate in a long-term care insurance plan subsidized by your employer or your spouse's employer.

If you qualify to take the deduction, use the Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction Worksheet in the Instructions for Form 1040 to figure the amount you can deduct. But if any of the following applies, don't use that worksheet.

You had more than one source of income subject to self-employment tax.

You file Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income.

You are using amounts paid for qualified long-term care insurance to figure the deduction.

Use Pub. 974, Premium Tax Credit, instead of the worksheet in the 2023 Instructions for Form 1040 if the insurance plan established, or considered to be established, under your business was obtained through the Health Insurance Marketplace and you are claiming the premium tax credit.

When figuring the amount you can deduct for insurance premiums, don't include amounts paid for health insurance coverage with retirement plan distributions that were tax free because you are a retired public safety officer.

You take this deduction on Form 1040 or 1040-SR. If you itemize your deductions and don't claim 100% of your self-employed health insurance costs on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, include any remaining premiums with all other medical expenses on Schedule A (Form 1040) subject to the 7.5% limit.

If the insurance policy covers your nondependent child who was under age 27 at the end of 2023, you can claim the premiums for that coverage on Form 1040 or 1040-SR. If you can't claim 100% of your self-employed health insurance costs on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, any excess amounts attributable to that child aren't eligible to be claimed on Schedule A (Form 1040).

Generally, family health insurance premiums don't increase if coverage for an additional child is added. If this is the situation, no allocation would be necessary. If the premiums did increase (such as where coverage was expanded from single to family to add the nondependent child), you can allocate the amount on Form 1040 or 1040-SR to the nondependent child and any excess amounts not attributable to that child would be eligible to be claimed on Schedule A.

You were self-employed in 2023 and had self-only coverage for health insurance. Your premium for that coverage was $5,000 for the year. You change to family coverage only to add your 26-year-old nondependent child to the plan. Your health insurance premium increases to $10,000 for the year. After completing the Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction Worksheet in the Instructions for Form 1040, you can only deduct $4,000 on Form 1040 or 1040-SR. The $4,000 is allocable to the nondependent child. You can only claim the $5,000 allocable to your coverage on Schedule A. The $1,000 excess premiums allocable to the nondependent child can’t be claimed by you.

The facts are the same as in Example 1 , except that you had family coverage when you added your 26-year-old nondependent child to the policy. There was no increase in the $10,000 premium. In this case, you could claim $4,000 on Form 1040 or 1040-SR and $6,000 on Schedule A.

For more information, see Pub. 535.

How To Get Tax Help

If you have questions about a tax issue; need help preparing your tax return; or want to download free publications, forms, or instructions, go to IRS.gov to find resources that can help you right away.

After receiving all your wage and earnings statements (Forms W-2, W-2G, 1099-R, 1099-MISC, 1099-NEC, etc.); unemployment compensation statements (by mail or in a digital format) or other government payment statements (Form 1099-G); and interest, dividend, and retirement statements from banks and investment firms (Forms 1099), you have several options to choose from to prepare and file your tax return. You can prepare the tax return yourself, see if you qualify for free tax preparation, or hire a tax professional to prepare your return.

Your options for preparing and filing your return online or in your local community, if you qualify, include the following.

Free File. This program lets you prepare and file your federal individual income tax return for free using software or Free File Fillable Forms. However, state tax preparation may not be available through Free File. Go to IRS.gov/FreeFile to see if you qualify for free online federal tax preparation, e-filing, and direct deposit or payment options.

VITA. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program offers free tax help to people with low-to-moderate incomes, persons with disabilities, and limited-English-speaking taxpayers who need help preparing their own tax returns. Go to IRS.gov/VITA , download the free IRS2Go app, or call 800-906-9887 for information on free tax return preparation.

TCE. The Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program offers free tax help for all taxpayers, particularly those who are 60 years of age and older. TCE volunteers specialize in answering questions about pensions and retirement-related issues unique to seniors. Go to IRS.gov/TCE or download the free IRS2Go app for information on free tax return preparation.

MilTax. Members of the U.S. Armed Forces and qualified veterans may use MilTax, a free tax service offered by the Department of Defense through Military OneSource. For more information, go to MilitaryOneSource ( MilitaryOneSource.mil/MilTax ).

Also, the IRS offers Free Fillable Forms, which can be completed online and then e-filed regardless of income.

Go to IRS.gov/Tools for the following.

The Earned Income Tax Credit Assistant ( IRS.gov/EITCAssistant ) determines if you’re eligible for the earned income credit (EIC).

The Online EIN Application ( IRS.gov/EIN ) helps you get an employer identification number (EIN) at no cost.

The Tax Withholding Estimator ( IRS.gov/W4App ) makes it easier for you to estimate the federal income tax you want your employer to withhold from your paycheck. This is tax withholding. See how your withholding affects your refund, take-home pay, or tax due.

The First-Time Homebuyer Credit Account Look-up ( IRS.gov/HomeBuyer ) tool provides information on your repayments and account balance.

The Sales Tax Deduction Calculator ( IRS.gov/SalesTax ) figures the amount you can claim if you itemize deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040).

IRS.gov/Help : A variety of tools to help you get answers to some of the most common tax questions.

IRS.gov/ITA : The Interactive Tax Assistant, a tool that will ask you questions and, based on your input, provide answers on a number of tax topics.

IRS.gov/Forms : Find forms, instructions, and publications. You will find details on the most recent tax changes and interactive links to help you find answers to your questions.

You may also be able to access tax information in your e-filing software.

There are various types of tax return preparers, including enrolled agents, certified public accountants (CPAs), accountants, and many others who don’t have professional credentials. If you choose to have someone prepare your tax return, choose that preparer wisely. A paid tax preparer is:

Primarily responsible for the overall substantive accuracy of your return,

Required to sign the return, and

Required to include their preparer tax identification number (PTIN).

The Social Security Administration (SSA) offers online service at SSA.gov/employer for fast, free, and secure W-2 filing options to CPAs, accountants, enrolled agents, and individuals who process Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, and Form W-2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement.

Go to IRS.gov/SocialMedia to see the various social media tools the IRS uses to share the latest information on tax changes, scam alerts, initiatives, products, and services. At the IRS, privacy and security are our highest priority. We use these tools to share public information with you. Don’t post your social security number (SSN) or other confidential information on social media sites. Always protect your identity when using any social networking site.

The following IRS YouTube channels provide short, informative videos on various tax-related topics in English, Spanish, and ASL.

Youtube.com/irsvideos .

Youtube.com/irsvideosmultilingua .

Youtube.com/irsvideosASL .

The IRS Video portal ( IRSVideos.gov ) contains video and audio presentations for individuals, small businesses, and tax professionals.

You can find information on IRS.gov/MyLanguage if English isn’t your native language.

The IRS is committed to serving taxpayers with limited-English proficiency (LEP) by offering OPI services. The OPI Service is a federally funded program and is available at Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs), most IRS offices, and every VITA/TCE tax return site. The OPI Service is accessible in more than 350 languages.

Taxpayers who need information about accessibility services can call 833-690-0598. The Accessibility Helpline can answer questions related to current and future accessibility products and services available in alternative media formats (for example, braille, large print, audio, etc.). The Accessibility Helpline does not have access to your IRS account. For help with tax law, refunds, or account-related issues, go to IRS.gov/LetUsHelp .

Form 9000, Alternative Media Preference, or Form 9000(SP) allows you to elect to receive certain types of written correspondence in the following formats.

Standard Print.

Large Print.

Audio (MP3).

Plain Text File (TXT).

Braille Ready File (BRF).

Go to IRS.gov/DisasterRelief to review the available disaster tax relief.

Go to IRS.gov/Forms to view, download, or print all of the forms, instructions, and publications you may need. Or, you can go to IRS.gov/OrderForms to place an order.

Download and view popular tax publications and instructions (including the Instructions for Form 1040) on mobile devices as eBooks at IRS.gov/eBooks .

IRS eBooks have been tested using Apple's iBooks for iPad. Our eBooks haven’t been tested on other dedicated eBook readers, and eBook functionality may not operate as intended.

Go to IRS.gov/Account to securely access information about your federal tax account.

View the amount you owe and a breakdown by tax year.

See payment plan details or apply for a new payment plan.

Make a payment or view 5 years of payment history and any pending or scheduled payments.

Access your tax records, including key data from your most recent tax return, and transcripts.

View digital copies of select notices from the IRS.

Approve or reject authorization requests from tax professionals.

View your address on file or manage your communication preferences.

With an online account, you can access a variety of information to help you during the filing season. You can get a transcript, review your most recently filed tax return, and get your adjusted gross income. Create or access your online account at IRS.gov/Account .

This tool lets your tax professional submit an authorization request to access your individual taxpayer IRS online account. For more information, go to IRS.gov/TaxProAccount .

The safest and easiest way to receive a tax refund is to e-file and choose direct deposit, which securely and electronically transfers your refund directly into your financial account. Direct deposit also avoids the possibility that your check could be lost, stolen, destroyed, or returned undeliverable to the IRS. Eight in 10 taxpayers use direct deposit to receive their refunds. If you don’t have a bank account, go to IRS.gov/DirectDeposit for more information on where to find a bank or credit union that can open an account online.

Tax-related identity theft happens when someone steals your personal information to commit tax fraud. Your taxes can be affected if your SSN is used to file a fraudulent return or to claim a refund or credit.

The IRS doesn’t initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages (including shortened links), telephone calls, or social media channels to request or verify personal or financial information. This includes requests for personal identification numbers (PINs), passwords, or similar information for credit cards, banks, or other financial accounts.

Go to IRS.gov/IdentityTheft , the IRS Identity Theft Central webpage, for information on identity theft and data security protection for taxpayers, tax professionals, and businesses. If your SSN has been lost or stolen or you suspect you’re a victim of tax-related identity theft, you can learn what steps you should take.

Get an Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN). IP PINs are six-digit numbers assigned to taxpayers to help prevent the misuse of their SSNs on fraudulent federal income tax returns. When you have an IP PIN, it prevents someone else from filing a tax return with your SSN. To learn more, go to IRS.gov/IPPIN .

Go to IRS.gov/Refunds .

Download the official IRS2Go app to your mobile device to check your refund status.

Call the automated refund hotline at 800-829-1954.

Payments of U.S. tax must be remitted to the IRS in U.S. dollars. Digital assets are not accepted. Go to IRS.gov/Payments for information on how to make a payment using any of the following options.

IRS Direct Pay : Pay your individual tax bill or estimated tax payment directly from your checking or savings account at no cost to you.

Debit Card, Credit Card, or Digital Wallet : Choose an approved payment processor to pay online or by phone.

Electronic Funds Withdrawal : Schedule a payment when filing your federal taxes using tax return preparation software or through a tax professional.

Electronic Federal Tax Payment System : Best option for businesses. Enrollment is required.

Check or Money Order : Mail your payment to the address listed on the notice or instructions.

Cash : You may be able to pay your taxes with cash at a participating retail store.

Same-Day Wire : You may be able to do same-day wire from your financial institution. Contact your financial institution for availability, cost, and time frames.

The IRS uses the latest encryption technology to ensure that the electronic payments you make online, by phone, or from a mobile device using the IRS2Go app are safe and secure. Paying electronically is quick, easy, and faster than mailing in a check or money order.

Go to IRS.gov/Payments for more information about your options.

Apply for an online payment agreement ( IRS.gov/OPA ) to meet your tax obligation in monthly installments if you can’t pay your taxes in full today. Once you complete the online process, you will receive immediate notification of whether your agreement has been approved.

Use the Offer in Compromise Pre-Qualifier to see if you can settle your tax debt for less than the full amount you owe. For more information on the Offer in Compromise program, go to IRS.gov/OIC .

Go to IRS.gov/Form1040X for information and updates.

Go to IRS.gov/WMAR to track the status of Form 1040-X amended returns.

Go to IRS.gov/Notices to find additional information about responding to an IRS notice or letter.

You can now upload responses to all notices and letters using the Document Upload Tool. For notices that require additional action, taxpayers will be redirected appropriately on IRS.gov to take further action. To learn more about the tool, go to IRS.gov/Upload .

You can use Schedule LEP (Form 1040), Request for Change in Language Preference, to state a preference to receive notices, letters, or other written communications from the IRS in an alternative language. You may not immediately receive written communications in the requested language. The IRS’s commitment to LEP taxpayers is part of a multi-year timeline that began providing translations in 2023. You will continue to receive communications, including notices and letters, in English until they are translated to your preferred language

Keep in mind, many questions can be answered on IRS.gov without visiting a TAC. Go to IRS.gov/LetUsHelp for the topics people ask about most. If you still need help, TACs provide tax help when a tax issue can’t be handled online or by phone. All TACs now provide service by appointment, so you’ll know in advance that you can get the service you need without long wait times. Before you visit, go to IRS.gov/TACLocator to find the nearest TAC and to check hours, available services, and appointment options. Or, on the IRS2Go app, under the Stay Connected tab, choose the Contact Us option and click on “Local Offices.”

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) Is Here To Help You

TAS is an independent organization within the IRS that helps taxpayers and protects taxpayer rights. Their job is to ensure that every taxpayer is treated fairly and that you know and understand your rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights .

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights describes 10 basic rights that all taxpayers have when dealing with the IRS. Go to TaxpayerAdvocate.IRS.gov to help you understand what these rights mean to you and how they apply. These are your rights. Know them. Use them.

TAS can help you resolve problems that you can’t resolve with the IRS. And their service is free. If you qualify for their assistance, you will be assigned to one advocate who will work with you throughout the process and will do everything possible to resolve your issue. TAS can help you if:

Your problem is causing financial difficulty for you, your family, or your business;

You face (or your business is facing) an immediate threat of adverse action; or

You’ve tried repeatedly to contact the IRS but no one has responded, or the IRS hasn’t responded by the date promised.

TAS has offices in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico . To find your advocate’s number:

Go to TaxpayerAdvocate.IRS.gov/Contact-Us ;

Download Pub. 1546, The Taxpayer Advocate Service Is Your Voice at the IRS, available at IRS.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1546.pdf ;

Call the IRS toll free at 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676) to order a copy of Pub. 1546;

Check your local directory; or

Call TAS toll free at 877-777-4778.

TAS works to resolve large-scale problems that affect many taxpayers. If you know of one of these broad issues, report it to TAS at IRS.gov/SAMS . Be sure to not include any personal taxpayer information.

LITCs are independent from the IRS and TAS. LITCs represent individuals whose income is below a certain level and who need to resolve tax problems with the IRS. LITCs can represent taxpayers in audits, appeals, and tax collection disputes before the IRS and in court. In addition, LITCs can provide information about taxpayer rights and responsibilities in different languages for individuals who speak English as a second language. Services are offered for free or a small fee. For more information or to find an LITC near you, go to the LITC page at TaxpayerAdvocate.IRS.gov/LITC or see IRS Pub. 4134, Low Income Taxpayer Clinic List , at IRS.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4134.pdf .

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