The term incidental expenses means:

You can use an optional method (instead of actual cost) for deducting incidental expenses only. The amount of the deduction is $3 a day for incidental expenses paid or incurred for travel away from home in 2005. You can use this method only if you did not pay or incur any meal expenses. You cannot use this method on any day that you use the standard meal allowance. This method is subject to the proration rules for partial days. See Travel for days you depart and return, later in this chapter.

If you use the standard meal allowance method for meal expenses and you are not reimbursed or you are reimbursed under a nonaccountable plan, you can generally deduct only 50% of the standard meal allowance. If you are reimbursed under an accountable plan and you are deducting amounts that are more than your reimbursements, you can deduct only 50% of the excess amount. The 50% limit is discussed in more detail in chapter 2, and accountable and nonaccountable plans are discussed in chapter 6.

You can use the standard meal allowance whether you are an employee or self-employed, and whether or not you are reimbursed for your traveling expenses.

You can use the standard meal allowance to figure your meal expenses when you travel in connection with investment and other income-producing property. You can also use it to figure your meal expenses when you travel for qualifying educational purposes. You cannot use the standard meal allowance to figure the cost of your meals when you travel for medical or charitable purposes.

The standard meal allowance is the federal M&IE rate. For travel in 2005, the rate for most small localities in the United States is $31 a day from January 1, 2005, through September 30, 2005, and $39 a day from October 1, 2005, through December 31, 2005.

Meal expenses: Major cities with higher allowancesMost major cities and many other localities in the United States are designated as high-cost areas, qualifying for higher standard meal allowances. These rates are listed in Publication 1542, which is available on the Internet at www.irs.gov.

If you travel to more than one location in one day, use the rate in effect for the area where you stop for sleep or rest. If you work in the transportation industry, however, see Special rate for transportation workers, later.

For both the day you depart for and the day you return from a business trip, you must prorate the standard meal allowance (figure a reduced amount for each day). You can do so by one of two methods.

If you travel by public transportation, any place in the United States where that vehicle makes a scheduled stop is a point in the United States. Once the vehicle leaves the last scheduled stop in the United States on its way to a point outside the United States, you apply the rules under Travel Outside the United States.

Travel by private car in the United States is travel between points in the United States, even though you are on your way to a destination outside the United States.

If you travel outside the United States and you spend the entire time on business activities, you can deduct all of your travel expenses.

Even if you did not spend your entire time on business activities, your trip is considered entirely for business if you meet at least one of the following four exceptions.

If your trip outside the United States was primarily for business, you must allocate your travel time on a day-to-day basis between business days and nonbusiness days. The days you depart from and return to the United States are both counted as days outside the United States.

To figure the deductible amount of your round-trip travel expenses, use the following fraction. The numerator (top number) is the total number of business days outside the United States. The denominator (bottom number) is the total number of travel days outside the United States.

Your business days include transportation days, days your presence was required, days you spent on business, and certain weekends and holidays.

If you stopped for a vacation or other nonbusiness activity either on the way from the United States to your business destination, or on the way back to the United States from your business destination, you must allocate part of your travel expenses to the nonbusiness activity.

The part you must allocate is the amount it would have cost you to travel between the point where travel outside the United States begins and your nonbusiness destination and a return to the point where travel outside the United States ends.

You determine the nonbusiness portion of that expense by multiplying it by a fraction. The numerator of the fraction is the number of nonbusiness days during your travel outside the United States and the denominator is the total number of days you spend outside the United States.

If you had a vacation or other nonbusiness activity at, near, or beyond your business destination, you must allocate part of your travel expenses to the nonbusiness activity.

The part you must allocate is the amount it would have cost you to travel between the point where travel outside the United States begins and your business destination and a return to the point where travel outside the United States ends.

You determine the nonbusiness portion of that expense by multiplying it by a fraction. The numerator of the fraction is the number of nonbusiness days during your travel outside the United States and the denominator is the total number of days you spend outside the United States.

None of your travel expenses for nonbusiness activities at, near, or beyond your business destination are deductible.

You can use another method of counting business days if you establish that it more clearly reflects the time spent on other than business activities outside the United States.

The North American area includes the following locations. American Samoa Johnston Island Antigua and Barbuda Kingman Reef Baker Island Marshall Islands Barbados Mexico Bermuda Micronesia Canada Midway Islands Costa Rica Northern Mariana Dominica Islands Dominican Republic Palau Grenada Palmyra Guam Puerto Rico Guyana Saint Lucia Honduras Trinidad and Tobago Howland Island USA Jamaica U.S. Virgin Islands Jarvis Island Wake Island The North American area also includes U.S. islands, cays, and reefs that are possessions of the United States and not part of the fifty states or the District of Columbia.

The following factors are taken into account to determine if it was reasonable to hold the meeting outside the North American area.

You must use the property more than 50% for business to claim any section 179 deduction. If you used the property more than 50% for business, multiply the cost of the property by the percentage of business use. The result is the cost of the property that can qualify for the section 179 deduction.

There are limits on:

For purposes of the section 179 deduction, the cost of the car does not include any amount figured by reference to any other property held by you at any time. For example, if you buy (for cash and a trade-in) a new car to use in your business, your cost for purposes of the section 179 deduction does not include your adjusted basis in the car you trade in for the new car. Your cost includes only the cash you paid.

If you want to take the section 179 deduction, you must make the choice in the tax year you both purchase the car and place it in service for business or work.

Form 2106Employees use Form 2106 to make this choice and report the section 179 deduction. All others use Form 4562.

File the appropriate form with either of the following.

To be eligible to claim the section 179 deduction, you must use your car more than 50% for business or work in the year you acquired it. If your business use of the car is 50% or less in a later tax year during the recovery period, you have to recapture (include in income) in that later year any excess depreciation. Any section 179 deduction claimed on the car is included in calculating the excess depreciation. For information on this calculation, see Excess depreciation later in this chapter under Car Used 50% or Less for Business.

If you dispose of a car on which you had claimed the section 179 deduction, the amount of that deduction is treated as a depreciation deduction for recapture purposes. You treat any gain on the disposition of the property as ordinary income up to the amount of the section 179 deduction and any allowable depreciation (unless you establish the amount actually allowed). For information on the disposition of a car, see Disposition of a Car, later.

Your basis in a car for figuring depreciation is generally its cost. This includes any amount you borrow or pay in cash, other property, or services.

Generally, you figure depreciation using your basis. However, in some situations (such as use of the straight line method) you will use your adjusted basis (your basis reduced by depreciation allowed or allowable in earlier years). For one of these situations see Exception under Methods of depreciation, later.

If you change the use of a car from personal to business, your basis for depreciation is the lesser of the fair market value or your adjusted basis in the car on the date of conversion. Additional rules concerning basis are discussed later in this chapter under Unadjusted basis.

You generally place a car in service when it is available for use in your work or business, in an income-producing activity, or in a personal activity. Depreciation begins when the car is placed in service for use in your work or business or for the production of income.

For purposes of computing depreciation, if you first start using the car only for personal use and later convert it to business use, you place the car in service on the date of conversion.

Generally, you figure depreciation on cars using the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS). MACRS is discussed later in this chapter.

Generally, you must use your car more than 50% for qualified business use (defined next) during the year to use MACRS. You must meet this more-than-50%-use test each year of the recovery period (6 years under MACRS) for your car.

If your business use is 50% or less, you must use the straight line method to depreciate your car. This is explained later under Car Used 50% or Less for Business.

A qualified business use is any use in your trade or business. It does not include use for the production of income (investment use). However, you do combine your business and investment use to compute your depreciation deduction for the tax year.

If you used your car more than 50% in qualified business use in the year you placed it in service, but 50% or less in a later year (including the year of disposition), you have to change to the straight line method of depreciation. See Qualified business use 50% or less in a later year under Car Used 50% or Less for Business, later.

If you use your car for more than one purpose during the tax year, you must allocate the use to the various purposes. You do this on the basis of mileage. Figure the percentage of qualified business use by dividing the number of miles you drive your car for business purposes during the year by the total number of miles you drive the car during the year for any purpose.

If you change the use of a car from 100% personal use to business use during the tax year, you may not have mileage records for the time before the change to business use. In this case, you figure the percentage of business use for the year as follows.

The amount you can claim for section 179 and depreciation deductions may be limited. The maximum amount you can claim depends on the year in which you placed your car in service. You have to reduce the maximum amount if you did not use the car exclusively for business. See Depreciation Limits, later.

You use your unadjusted basis (often referred to as your basis or your basis for depreciation) to figure your depreciation using the MACRS depreciation chart, explained later under Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS). Your unadjusted basis for figuring depreciation is your original basis increased or decreased by certain amounts.

To figure your unadjusted basis, begin with your car's original basis, which generally is its cost. Cost includes sales taxes, destination charges, and dealer preparation. Increase your basis by any substantial improvements you make to your car, such as adding air conditioning or a new engine. Decrease your basis by any deductible casualty loss, section 179 deduction, special depreciation allowance (claimed in prior years), diesel fuel tax credit, gas guzzler tax, clean-fuel vehicle deduction, and qualified electric vehicle credit. See Publication 535 for more information on the clean-fuel vehicle deduction and the qualified electric vehicle credit.

If you traded one car (the old car) in on another car (the new car) in 2005, there are two ways you can treat the transaction.

If you elect to use the method described in (1), you must do so on a timely filed tax return (including extensions). Otherwise, you must use the method described in (2).

The Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) is the name given to the tax rules for getting back (recovering) through depreciation deductions the cost of property used in a trade or business or to produce income.

The maximum amount you can deduct is limited, depending on the year you placed your car in service. See Depreciation Limits, later.

A 2005 MACRS Depreciation Chart and instructions are included in this chapter as Table 4-1. Using this table will make it easy for you to figure the 2005 depreciation deduction for your car. A similar chart appears in the Instructions for Form 2106.

You must use the Depreciation Tables in Publication 946 rather than the 2005 MACRS Depreciation Chart in this publication if any one of the following three conditions applies to you.

The depreciation limits are reduced based on your percentage of personal use. If you use a car less than 100% in your business or work, you must determine the depreciation deduction limit by multiplying the limit amount by the percentage of business and investment use during the tax year.

The section 179 deduction is treated as a depreciation deduction. If you place a car that is not a truck, van, or electric vehicle in service in 2005, use it only for business, and choose the section 179 deduction, the combined section 179 and depreciation deduction for that car for 2005 is limited to $2,960.

If the depreciation limits apply to your car, you may have unrecovered basis in your car at the end of the recovery period. If you continue to use your car for business, you can deduct that unrecovered basis after the recovery period ends.

If you use your car 50% or less for qualified business use (defined earlier under Depreciation Deduction) in the year the car is placed in service, the following rules apply.

Instead of making the computation yourself, you can use column (c) of Table 4-1 to find the percentage to use.

If you use your car more than 50% in qualified business use in the tax year it is placed in service but the business use drops to 50% or less in a later year, you can no longer use an accelerated depreciation method for that car.

For the year the business use drops to 50% or less and all later years in the recovery period, you must use the straight line depreciation method over a 5-year recovery period. In addition, for the year your business use drops to 50% or less, you must recapture (include in your gross income) any excess depreciation (discussed later). You also increase the adjusted basis of your car by the same amount.

Fair market value is the price at which the property would change hands between a buyer and a seller, neither having to buy or sell, and both having reasonable knowledge of all the necessary facts. Sales of similar property around the same date may be helpful in figuring the fair market value of the property.

Figure the fair market value on the first day of the lease term. If the capitalized cost of a car is specified in the lease agreement, use that amount as the fair market value.

Inclusion amounts are listed in Appendix A for cars, in Appendix B for trucks and vans, and in Appendix C for electric cars leased after August 5, 1997. If the fair market value of the car is $100,000 or less, use the appropriate appendix (depending on the year you first placed the car in service) to determine the inclusion amount. If the fair market value is more than $100,000, see the Revenue Procedure(s) identified in the footnote of the appendices for the inclusion amount. Revenue Procedures are available at most IRS offices and many local libraries. You can also find them on the Internet at www.irs.gov.

For each tax year during which you lease the car for business, determine your inclusion amount by following these three steps.

If you lease a car for business use and, in a later year, change it to personal use, follow the rules explained earlier under Figuring the inclusion amount. For the tax year in which you stop using the car for business, use the dollar amount for the previous tax year. Prorate the dollar amount for the number of days in the lease term that fall within the tax year.

If you lease a car for personal use and, in a later year, change it to business use, you must determine the car's fair market value on the date of conversion. Then figure the inclusion amount using the rules explained earlier under Figuring the inclusion amount. Use the fair market value on the date of conversion.

Car expenses: Leasing a car Car rentals Leasing a car Car expenses Transportation expenses: Car expensesFor information on reporting inclusion amounts, employees should see Car rentals under Completing Forms 2106 and 2106-EZ in chapter 6. Sole proprietors should see the instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) and farmers should see the instructions for Schedule F (Form 1040).

You are related to your employer if:

The federal rate can be figured using any one of the following methods.

If your reimbursement is in the form of an allowance received under an accountable plan, the following facts affect your reporting.

You receive a travel advance if your employer provides you with an expense allowance before you actually have the expense, and the allowance is reasonably expected to be no more than your expense. Under an accountable plan, you are required to adequately account to your employer for this advance and to return any excess within a reasonable period of time.

If you do not adequately account for or do not return any excess advance within a reasonable period of time, the amount you do not account for or return will be treated as having been paid under a nonaccountable plan (discussed later).

As a self-employed person, you adequately account by reporting your actual expenses. You should follow the recordkeeping rules in chapter 5.

If the contractor adequately accounts to you for entertainment expenses, you (the client or customer) must keep records documenting each element of the expense, as explained in chapter 5. Use your records as proof for a deduction on your tax return. If entertainment expenses are accounted for separately, you are subject to the 50% limit on entertainment. If the contractor adequately accounts to you for reimbursed amounts, you do not have to report the amounts on an information return.

Reimbursements Reporting requirements: ReimbursementsIf the contractor does not adequately account to you for allowances or reimbursements of entertainment expenses, you do not have to keep records of these items. You are not subject to the 50% limit on entertainment in this case. You can deduct the reimbursements or allowances as payment for services if they are ordinary and necessary business expenses. However, you must file Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income, to report amounts paid to the independent contractor if the total of the reimbursements and any other fees is $600 or more during the calendar year.

You are a member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States if you are in the Army, Naval, Marine Corps, Air Force, or Coast Guard Reserve, the Army National Guard of the United States, the Air National Guard of the United States, or the Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service.

If you have reserve-related travel that takes you more than 100 miles from home, you should first complete Form 2106 or Form 2106-EZ. Then include your expenses for reserve travel over 100 miles from home, up to the federal rate, from Form 2106, line 10, or Form 2106-EZ, line 6, in the total on Form 1040, line 24. Subtract this amount from the total on Form 2106, line 10, or Form 2106-EZ, line 6, and deduct the balance as an itemized deduction on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 20.

You cannot deduct expenses of travel that does not take you more than 100 miles from home as an adjustment to gross income. Instead, you must complete Form 2106 or 2106-EZ and deduct those expenses as an itemized deduction on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 20.

If you are married, you must file a joint return unless you lived apart from your spouse at all times during the tax year. If you file a joint return, you must figure requirements (1), (2), and (3) separately for both you and your spouse. However, requirement (4) applies to your and your spouse's combined adjusted gross income.

If you meet all of the above requirements, you should first complete Form 2106 or 2106-EZ. Then you include your performing-arts-related expenses from Form 2106, line 10, or Form 2106-EZ, line 6, in the total on Form 1040, line 24.

If you do not meet all of the above requirements, you do not qualify to deduct your expenses as an adjustment to gross income. Instead, you must complete Form 2106 or 2106-EZ and deduct your employee business expenses as an itemized deduction on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 20.