Commenter joeking asks about scanning in documents to document home leave expenses for purposes of the tax deduction. I have no personal experience doing this, as I have not met the 2% floor due to staying in a home I own during home leave.

As I see it, there are two questions being asked here. The implied question is, “what’s the best way to save records for tax purposes.” Without question or hesitation, I’m telling you SCAN, SCAN, SCAN. I see no need to get a purpose-built scanner and am happy with my Canon LIDE lightweight scanner. There’s also the super-tiny NeatReceipts. The good news is that the IRS accepts scanned copies [see: Rev. Proc 97-22] for NEARLY ALL RECORDS. Seriously, quit lugging around paper copies of all that junk.

The second question is about actually deducting home leave. I’m no tax professional, and I recommend reading AFSA’s Tax Guide, but here’s my two cents: unless you both own a home and are travelling extensively on your home leave, you might not be deducting much. First, this only works if you’re not using the Standard Deduction. You must itemize using Schedule A to claim business expenses. If you don’t own a home or make large charity donations (outside of CFC), you’re likely of luck. Second, you can only claim yourself, not/not your family. So, if you’re staying in two double hotel rooms, you can only deduct one single-occupancy rate. Finally, you can avoid saving food receipts and driving receipts if the cost is under the IRS rates of per diem and $.485/mi, respectively. Food can only be deducted at 50% of actual expense. If you’re staying with family or friends, you can’t claim those expenses. See IRS Form 2106 for the full info.

Remember, certain other costs can be claimed as business expenses. These include ORE, AFSA membership costs [I'm not a member], some subscriptions, etc. I haven’t run up a tab large enough to deduct over the 2% floor for miscelaneous expenses. That said, it doesn’t hurt to scan something and figure it out at tax time.

Tags: , , , , ,