Can I deduct business trip flight tickets as a tax write off?

Hey everyone, I'm trying to figure out my taxes for this year and I have a question about business travel expenses. I recently started a consulting side business while keeping my full-time job, and I've had to fly to meet clients about 6 times in the past year. These trips were purely for business purposes - meeting with clients, attending industry conferences, and scoping out potential projects. The flight tickets alone cost me around $3,800 total for all the trips. I kept all my receipts and recorded the details of each trip (dates, purpose, who I met with, etc.) in my calendar. I'm planning to file Schedule C for my consulting income, which was about $42,000 this year. I've heard mixed things about what can be deducted as a business expense. Can I write off the full cost of these flight tickets? Do I need any specific documentation beyond my receipts and calendar entries? Does it matter that this is a side business and not my primary source of income? Any advice would be super appreciated!

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19 comments

Sofia Rodriguez

•8M

Yes, you can absolutely deduct those flight expenses! Since these trips were purely for business purposes for your consulting work, the airfare is 100% deductible as a business expense on your Schedule C. The documentation you have sounds perfect - receipts for the flights and calendar entries showing the business purpose of each trip. I'd also recommend keeping any emails or messages arranging client meetings, conference registration confirmations, and notes from your meetings as additional support. The IRS loves seeing a clear connection between the expense and business purpose. The fact that consulting is your side business doesn't matter for deducting legitimate business expenses. As long as you're running it as a genuine business (with profit motive) and these expenses were ordinary and necessary for your consulting work, you're good to deduct them.

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Sofia Rodriguez

•8M

For mixed business/personal trips, you can only deduct the business portion of your expenses. For airfare specifically, it depends on the primary purpose of the trip. If the primary purpose was business (which is generally the case if you spent more than 50% of your time on business activities), you can deduct the entire round-trip airfare. If the primary purpose was personal, you can't deduct the airfare at all, even if you conducted some business while there. For your specific example with a 2-day business meeting and 3-day personal stay, the primary purpose seems personal (more days personal than business), so the airfare probably wouldn't be deductible. However, you could still deduct other expenses that were directly related to the business portion, like hotel costs for just those 2 business days, meals during business meetings, etc.

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Ava Thompson

•8M

I was in a similar situation last year with my photography business and found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) incredibly helpful for figuring out my business deductions. I was super confused about what travel expenses I could write off, especially since I sometimes combined business and personal trips. The tool analyzed all my receipts and categorized everything properly - even flagged some deductions I was missing! What I really appreciated was how it helped me document the business purpose for each trip, which apparently is super important if you get audited. It also gave me confidence that I wasn't claiming anything risky that might trigger an audit. Definitely saved me hours of researching tax rules.

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Ava Thompson

•8M

It works for all types of businesses - I have friends who use it for consulting, e-commerce, and even a food truck. For construction, it would be perfect since you have lots of job sites. It handles vehicle expenses really well, tracking mileage between sites and separating business vs personal use. Regarding legitimacy of expenses, it actually uses AI to analyze receipt context and business patterns to flag what's likely personal vs business. But the final decision is always yours - it just gives recommendations based on tax rules. I actually found it more thorough than when I used an accountant because it caught several deductions my accountant missed last year, and it costs way less.

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Miguel Herrera

•8M

Just wanted to follow up after trying taxr.ai that someone mentioned above. I was really impressed! I uploaded all my receipts from the past year including my business trips to different construction sites, and it automatically categorized most of them correctly. For the few it wasn't sure about, it asked simple questions to determine if they were business-related. The best part was when it found about $2,800 in deductible expenses I had completely forgotten about, including some flights I took to check out a potential big project in another state. It also created a really organized expense report I can use if I ever get audited. Honestly wish I'd known about this sooner - would have saved me tons of time manually sorting through receipts and spreadsheets!

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Connor Murphy

•8M

If you're having trouble getting answers about business travel deductions directly from the IRS, try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I spent DAYS trying to get through to an IRS agent to clarify some confusing rules about business travel deductions for my consulting company. After waiting on hold for hours and getting disconnected multiple times, I was ready to give up. I found Claimyr and was honestly doubtful, but they actually got me connected to a real IRS agent in about 15 minutes! The agent clarified exactly what documentation I needed for my business flights and gave me answers specific to my situation. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c

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Connor Murphy

•8M

It actually uses a system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you. When an actual agent picks up, you get a call connecting you directly to that agent. So instead of you personally waiting on hold for hours, their system does it for you and only calls when there's a live person. As for the skepticism, I totally understand - I felt the same way! But it's not a scam. What convinced me was that you don't pay unless you actually get connected to an agent. It's basically like having someone else wait in line for you. The time I saved was honestly worth every penny, especially during tax season when IRS wait times can be 3+ hours.

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Zainab Ali

•8M

OK I need to follow up about Claimyr after my skeptical comment. I actually tried it yesterday because I was desperate to speak to someone at the IRS about some business travel deductions I wasn't sure about. I was completely shocked when I got a call connecting me to an actual IRS agent after only 27 minutes (while I was just going about my day instead of waiting on hold). The agent walked me through exactly what documentation I need for my business flights and even explained how to handle mixed business/personal travel, which was my main confusion. Got everything resolved in one call instead of the multiple attempts it usually takes me. I'm still surprised it actually worked! Seriously saved me hours of frustration and hold music.

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StarGazer101

•8M

For meals during business travel, you have two options: actual expenses (50% deductible with receipts) or per diem rates (also 50% deductible but no receipts needed). Which is better really depends on your situation. Using per diem is usually simpler since you don't need to keep every food receipt - you just claim the standard rate for the location you visited. The GSA website has all the rates. This is great if you hate tracking receipts or if you typically spend less than the per diem amount. Actual expenses might be better if you frequently have expensive client meals that exceed the per diem rate. Just remember you'll need receipts for everything and can only deduct 50% of the cost. One important note: you have to use the same method (actual or per diem) for all your meals for the entire year - you can't mix and match.

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