J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2013: For Preparing Your 2012 Tax Return

20.7 When Are You Away From Home?

You have to meet the “away from home” test to deduct the cost of meals (only 50% deductible) and lodging while traveling. You have to be away from your tax home and satisfy the overnight-sleep rule (20.3) to be “away from home.” In general, your tax home is the city or general area in which your regular place of business or post of duty is located, regardless of where your family is.

EXAMPLES

1. Your residence is in a suburb within commuting distance of New York City where you work full time. Your personal home and tax home are the same, that is, within the metropolitan area of New York City. You are away from home when you leave this area, say, for Philadelphia. Meals and lodging are deductible only if you meet the overnight-sleep test (20.3).

2. Your residence is in New York City, but you work in Baltimore. Your tax home is Baltimore; you may not deduct living expenses there. But you may deduct travel expenses on a temporary assignment to New York City even while living at your home there.

3. A construction worker works for a utility company on construction sites in a 12-state area. Assignments are sent from his employer’s regional office; he is not required to report to the office. The IRS ruled that his residence, which is in a city in the 12-state area, is his tax home.

Are you constantly on the road?

If you move from job to job and do not work within any particular locality, an IRS agent may disallow your travel deductions on ...