Question

Melissa recently paid $435 for round-trip airfare to san francisco to attend a business conference for three days. melissa also paid the following expenses: $680 fee to register for the conference, $270 per night for three nights' lodging, $175 for meals and $225 for cab fare. note: do not round intermediate calculations. round your final answers to the nearest whole dollar amount. leave no answers blank. enter zero if applicable. b. suppose that while melissa was on the coast, she also spent two days sightseeing the national parks in the area. to do the sightseeing, she paid $1,220 for transportation, $820 for lodging, and $420 for meals during this part of her trip, which she considers personal in nature. what amount of these costs can melissa deduct as business expense?

Answer 1

Melissa can deduct a total of $2,325 as business expenses. This includes the costs for airfare, conference registration, lodging, meals, and cab fare related to the business conference. Expenses from the additional sightseeing days are not deductible as they are personal.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the amount of costs Melissa can deduct as a business expense, we need to consider only the expenses related to the business portion of her trip. The initial costs for the airfare, conference fee, lodging, meals, and cab fare are all considered business expenses because they are directly related to attending the business conference. However, the additional expenses for sightseeing, including transportation, lodging, and meals, cannot be considered business expenses because they were incurred during a personal activity.

Therefore, Melissa's deductible business expenses are as follows:

• Airfare: $435
• Conference fee: $680
• Lodging for the conference (3 nights at $270 each): $810
• Meals for the conference: $175
• Cab fare: $225

The total amount of deductible business expenses is the sum of these amounts, which equals $2,325.