Question

On Thursday, Justin flies from Baltimore (where the office for his sole proprietorship is located) to Cadiz (Spain). He conducts business on Friday and Tuesday; vacations on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (a legal holiday in Spain); and returns to Baltimore on Thursday. Justin is scheduled to return home on Wednesday, but all flights were canceled due to bad weather. As a result, he spends Wednesday watching floor shows at a local casino. Days where travel is attempted/cancelled is counted as a travel day under tax law. Justin is self-employed.

Required:
a. For tax purposes, what portion of Justin's trip regarded as being for business?
b. Suppose Monday was not a legal holiday. Would this change your answer in part (a) ? Explain?
c. Under either part (a) or (b), how much of Justin's airfare qualifies as a deducible business expense?

Answer 1

a) 100%

b) Yes

c) Total airfare

Step-by-step explanation:

A) For tax purposes the portion of Justin's trip that is regarded as being for business is 100% and this is because we can consider weekends and Holidays as business days if they are preceded by a business day and also succeeded by a business day(s) also considering that Justin's flight was delayed from Wednesday to Thursday

B) Yes it will affect my answer because it would mean that Saturday, Sunday and Monday will become Non-business days

C) The total cost of the Airfare qualifies as deductible business expense in both A and B