Incidental expenses are the "I" in
M&IE. When
a taxpayer deducts
employee business expenses from their taxes, typically, the incidental
expenses are lumped in with the
meal
expenses to give the taxpayer the M&IE total. It is possible (even though
it is very rare) that a taxpayer can calculate the incidental expenses
separate from the meal expenses. In that case, the taxpayer could use the
actual costs of the incidental expenses incurred during the tax year. The
following travel expenses are considered to be incidental expenses.
- Fees and tips given to porters, baggage
carriers, bellhops, hotel maids, stewards or stewardesses and others on ships,
and hotel
servants in foreign countries,
- Transportation between places of lodging or
business and places where meals are taken, if suitable meals can be obtained
at the
temporary duty site, and
- Mailing costs associated with filing travel
vouchers and payment of employer-sponsored charge card billings.
Incidental expenses do not include expenses
for laundry, cleaning and pressing of clothing, lodging taxes, or the costs of
telegrams or telephone calls.
If an item is NOT listed as and incidental expense AND it is
determined to be a tax deductible employee business expense, then the
item can be added to your itemized employee business expenses if done
properly. On the other hand, if an item IS listed as an incidental
expense AND you use the normal M&IE calculation as most people do,
DO NOT add that expense into the list of
employee business expenses because you are essentially double-dipping. The
reason it is considered to be double-dipping is
that the expense is already automatically a component of the M&IE total.
