hey if you're a business owner and you're looking for the maximum tax write-off
for your travel meals and lodging when you're off doing business
well the per diems is unique strategy that not a lot of business owners know
about because well when you work for a big corporation they say well we'll give
you the per diem rate when you go travel for the company and that's a set figure
well if you spend less than that the company still gets to write off the
larger amount and may reimburse you for the larger amount depends on your
relationship when you work for a big company but when you're a business owner
you still want to know the options for per diems let's break it down all right
let me give you an example of what a per diem is so it'll make more sense as we
go through the details a per diem is a set amount you're allowed to write off
even if it cost you less for lunch for example I go to Los Angeles for business
get off the plane and I hit in an outrigger double-double animal style
protein my favorite and it only cost me 10 bucks
but the GSA that's a government agency GSA oh if you want to learn more about
these per diems that are established they may say the average lunch in LA is
$25 well they only spent $10 well I get to write off the greater amount because
that's the per diem allowance that's what a per diem is now let's see you
know it figures out what traveling meals and as a business owner now next we need
to understand the hundred percent versus fifty percent rule which means when
you're eating out traveling for business you still take a 50 percent haircut
dinah rest said you had to eat anyway so you keep track of the bar tab and the
food and the tips and then write it all down put it on that meals line when
you're traveling and then your account is going to cut it in half which is cool
now travel if it's a hundred percent business travel trip and I'm not taking
an extra week to surf it and I've done it sent it over ate my favorite surf
spot in Orange County then I'm there for business only I can write off a hundred
percent of my travel expenses now let's break it down travel a little further
when it comes to per diems and I'll get right to it
Travel could be transportation so think of
your uber and your airfare and all that that's the transportation portion so
uber airfare and taxi and yada yada yada so that's kind of this this piece here
now this other piece over here is going to be our lodging and lodging per diems
also take place and they're there and the GSA website meals also have per
diems so we're going to be looking at lodging per diems and meals per diems
that's where we want to break it down for business owners and this
transportation thing is really a percentage based on the amount of the
business trip being business now I've got a travel YouTube video that's
awesome so over them follow that because I break down a week's time and if I'm
there 50 percent of the time for business and 50 per personal I'm going
to have a different write-off for some of these transportation expenses whole
other topic not anything to do with per diems so let me say this right off the
bat there's no per diems for what an average herb Buber fair it is or an
average airfare it is what it is you just have to figure out was the trip
100% business 75% business or whatever so there's no per diems when it comes to
the actual transportation costs but they do have per diems for lodging and per
diems for meals now i'm usually the type of guy that likes to give good news
first butter yup then give you the bad news so let's do that meals you get to
use per diems as a business owner and I'll give some examples here
lodging you don't they just don't allow it if you're a 10% or greater owner of
the company you don't get to use the per diem amounts and for my business owners
that are S corporations which should be 99 percent of you for your business your
rentals and if you don't know that strategy go to youtube entire type mark
color s-corporations and it'll blow your mind very very important strategy but if
you or your spouse are owners of an s-corporation
greater than 10 percent you're not allowed to take lodging per
diems so if you go sleep on the couch and grandmas for the business trip you
don't get to take the write-off of $110 for the average hotel just doesn't it's
not allowed but we are allowed as business owners like I said to take
average dining per diems and let's talk about it because I think there's a lot
of options here that could save you a lot of taxes now to zoom in on per diems
we need a whole page to do it so let's get over here I want to compare the
gsa.gov website for meals and incidental expenses for when you travel to let's
compare New York New York to Phoenix or Scottsdale Arizona and they're in the
same line when it comes to GSA so I'm going to say Scottsdale let's kind of
think about that now if you've ever been to Scottsdale Arizona
it is pretty swanky and it's good to see a lot of these grandpa's travel
traveling with their granddaughters they're just really affectionate I don't
know what that is but you know it's a little story
okay so Scottsdale is swanky pretty ritzy and shockingly enough now I've
written down these numbers from the gsa.gov website in New York they say the
average meals for breakfast lunch and dinner is $76 okay that's that's your
average now if you can go cheaper than that you can still write out seventy-six
dollars first Scottsdale Arizona are you kidding me fifty-six dollars now if
you've never been to Scottsdale Arizona that's pretty slim pickins
all right now let's now I kind of like this New York one because if you travel
in New York as a business owner on a regular basis the day you're traveling
the amount is 57 dollars then you're in New York for the day doing business and
then the day traveling back is another 57 dollars so if you do a three-day trip
you've got Bing Bing Bing and you could add that up and that's your meals for
the whole trip you don't have to worry about receipts you just say I went to
New York for business flew in did business flew back three-day
trip there's your write out for meals done and you can tell your accountant
yeah I did five or six or ten business trips to New York in my S corporation or
even in my LLC to go check on my rental property and those are my meals expenses
so what I kind of like to think of is and when I go to New York I even added
this up just for an example let's say I do breakfast a rock star and a banana
that's kind of normal for me nobody even got my rock star recovery here mmm look
at ten calories B vitamins taurine good stuff I mean this is this good so no
sugar with a banana breakfast I came up with eight dollars then I go on the
street of New York I'm going to do two slices in a soda mmm if you're on the
streets of New York you know you got to hit a couple slices and if I'm feeling
healthy I'll even do a bottle of water with two slices okay so I'm looking at
about ten bucks for two slices in a soda slices couple bucks you gotta love it
nice a couple cheese slices fold them in half if you really know what you're
doing then for dinner I'm gonna hit a deli I love the New York delis I'm gonna
hit a deli they sometimes have a buffet bar I can fill up something or I can get
a sandwich let's say worst case scenario I'm out 20 bucks at a deli now this is
me because I'm cheap and I Love New York eating on the streets 20 30 $38 now
what's my write-off 76 because I go with the greater of the two I don't have to
worry about receipt so I can go cash and bone 76 is my write-off in New York now
let's dukkha Scottsdale okay now Scottsdale it's 56 dollars a
day and is $42 a day for your travel days so if I'm flying into Scottsdale
Phoenix area I get 42 for my day of travel 56 for my
day of food and then another 42 for my day of travel and Frankie when I'm
flying fewer airports and I just don't eat as much and that's a Airport food -
so I'm like 42 42 but then I'm in Scottsdale now here's the problem
Scottsdale when I'm in Scottsdale I'm definitely getting a breakfast burrito
mmm-hmm some of the best southwestern breakfast burritos are going to be in
Scottsdale and if I get a rock star with that
I'm out 15 bucks well then lunch you know I'm doing some street tacos and I'm
gonna probably get those at a little cafe with some guacamole and chips and
some of the best and Scottsdale down there so I'm gonna at least be 20 for
lunch then dinner my favorite restaurant on the planet is Mastro's City Hall down
in Scottsdale and if you've been discussed ale you haven't been there you
got to go there and you know what I'm talking lobster mac lobster potatoes the
best lobster master - so it's master of City Hall I'm not getting out of there
for under 80 bucks but it's gonna be good so and some of you might be doing
the wine and the bar tab before you're going all out at City Hall so eighty
hundred hundred and fifteen bucks would well--that's Scottsdale for you so one
hundred and fifteen dollars versus fifty six I'm taking the actual and I better
keep my receipts take pictures of them on your phone sir fine but in New York
I'm going per diem because I'm going to be eating slices on the street and
hitting the delis so these are your two strategies when it comes to per diems
you want to take the per diem whatever it's higher or the actual whenever it's
higher and keep your receipts now again I want to reiterate meal per diems for
business owners are so wheat but lodging not allowed to take so you want to take
your actual and again I'll use it you could go to New York and stay at the
Plaza spend three or four hundred dollars a night
go to Scottsdale and find it cheapest Howard Johnson for 80 bucks a night it's
your actual lodging that's the write-off it doesn't matter
how swanky the hotel is because you're not allowed to take that per diems so
you can go cheap or spending whatever you want and if it's again a hundred
percent business trip I'm gonna be taking the actual lodging expense and a
hundred percent of my travel and uber and tips and all those goodies so
maximize your right office as a business owner I think you're gonna love it and
check out the following because I want to make sure you get more videos and
updates on rigor bases thanks so much for watching that video and I want to be
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