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I"m going to a conference and wondering if meals and hotels are 100% tax deductible.

My accounting person is pretty sure meals are at 50% deductible and wasn't sure about hotels. So if I spent $100 on meals, I could claim $50 as an expense. On hotels, she's not sure.

Any reference links would be great.

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If my accountant were "pretty sure" about IRS policy I'd find a new accountant. I pay her to know or find out. – Jim Blizard Feb 24 '12 at 20:28
I'm married to accountant :). She's actually very sharp. I should have said "she said, and I've not asked her how sure she was". I asked again and she's 100% positive about the meals being 50%. I'm sure she'd be thrilled to find out it's at 100%. PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG :) – ClayNichols Feb 25 '12 at 23:28

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I found it myself:

Meals : 50% It looks like hotels would be at 100%.

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Clay - Why not have your startup reimburse you the expenses so that then are 100% deductible? The 50% applies to unreimbursed expenses. – JonnyBoats Feb 24 '12 at 3:01
Hmmm... My accountant (who is certain of this) said that meals on travel are deductible as a business expense at only 50%. the rationalis that you'd need to eat anyway but it's 2x as expensive so they let you expense the incremental cost. – ClayNichols Feb 25 '12 at 23:27
Clay - If you have a friend or neighbor who works for a major corp and travels ask him how he handles his travel claims. When his company reimburses him does he have to pay taxes on the reimbursed meals even though they pay him 100%? – JonnyBoats Feb 26 '12 at 1:26

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