Business Travel Away From Home: The Basics
Published November 6, 2026
If your work takes you away from your regular workplace, some travel costs may be deductible. The rules depend on where your tax home is, how long you are away, and what you spend. This guide is general information. It is not advice about your return.
Start with your tax home
Publication 463 (2025) says your tax home is generally your regular place of business or post of duty. It does not move just because your family home is somewhere else. If you have more than one regular place of business, your tax home is your main place of business. If your work has no regular or main place, your tax home may be where you regularly live.
Away from home means you must rest
Publication 463 says you are traveling away from home if your duties keep you 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. A short break to eat does not count. Publication 463 says napping in your car does not meet the rest requirement.
Temporary or open-ended work
Publication 463 says a temporary assignment in one location is generally one realistically expected to last 1 year or less. If the work is expected to last more than 1 year, it is open-ended, even if it ends sooner. At an open-ended location, the place becomes your new tax home, and you cannot deduct your travel costs there.
A series of short assignments in the same place may add up to an open-ended assignment. Our guide to Schedule C business income and expenses covers the business side of these costs.
What the publication says you may deduct
Publication 463 describes travel expenses as the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for your business. An ordinary expense is common and accepted in your trade. A necessary expense is helpful and appropriate for your business. Publication 463 says you can deduct non-entertainment meals, subject to the 50% limit, along with lodging and other related costs.
Publication 463 also says you cannot deduct meals and lodging while you are at your tax home.
Two examples from the publication
Publication 463 describes a railroad conductor who leaves the home terminal on a round trip, returns 16 hours later, has 6 hours off at the turnaround point, eats, and rents a hotel room to get the sleep needed before the return trip. The publication says that conductor is away from home. A truck driver who gets 1 hour off to eat, without the rest needed, is not away from home.
Publication 463 also says a member of the Armed Forces on a permanent duty assignment overseas is not traveling away from home, so meals and lodging are not deductible for that assignment.
Records you need
Publication 463 says you must keep records that prove the time, place, and business purpose of each trip. That is true even if you use the standard meal allowance. Publication 463 explains the recordkeeping rules in its chapter on records.
Our guide to how long to keep tax records explains how long to hold on to these papers.
Simple steps
- Write down your tax home and your main place of business.
- For each trip, note the dates, the place, and the business purpose.
- Check whether the assignment is temporary, expected to last 1 year or less.
- Separate meals, lodging, and transportation costs, and apply the 50% meal limit.
Upload your documents and answer a few simple questions. Your preparer reviews every deduction and credit and lets you know when your return is ready to sign.
Sources: Sources: IRS, Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf) This is general information, not advice about your specific return.
