A friend of mine is coming on a buddies golf trip in a few weeks.
I covered the cost and sent him a venmo request, he asked if we could do zelle so he could pay from his business account.
I asked him why? He said because he plans to talk about business with everyone on the trip at some point in casual conversation thus deeming the trip a business expense.
Would you consider writing something like this off to be standard, risky, or somewhere in between?
Writing off a buddies golf trip vacation. How risky is this?
byu/vcuriousinvestor2 intax
Posted by vcuriousinvestor2
14 Comments
Tbh it’s not your concern.
No, that doesn’t even remotely count as a write off for business travel. There needs to be a business PURPOSE to the actual trip in the first place. Working or talking about a business while on vacation doesn’t make it a business trip.
Even then the vacation would only be partially deductible if there was a legitimate business purpose like meeting an actual vendor or supplier to see their families first hand type of deal or a work conference and then personal vacation or mixed in.
So all in all this is extremely risky and under audit this would disallowed and your buddy would have to pay taxes on the income this deduction off set plus penalties and interest for however long it went. If they find something for them to think he knowingly knew this wasn’t a legitimate business expense it could be even worse.
Standard for most sales people. Which can be risky or not I don’t know there financial situation/tax history. Is this a risk to you? No – not at all.
I mean, doesn’t matter to you. It won’t hold up under audit for him. Casual conversation isn’t enough and more to the point, it isn’t necessary to go on a golf trip in order to discuss business with friends.
The business percentage of a combined business/personal trip is deductible, but only if the trip is primarily for business. Since less than half of this trip is for business (not to mention that the “business” portion of the trip is extremely dubious) it would be a clear disallowance.
His business, he can play his own audit roulette
That’s absolutely not a valid business expense for him, but it doesn’t really impact you at all. You can warn him, but I wouldn’t do anything more than that.
> Would you consider writing something like this off to be standard, risky, or somewhere in between?
Given the amount of tax **abuse** that went through as “business expenses”, such as what your buddy is proposing, several decades ago the IRS put -significantly- more stringent rules in place for them.
* Counter-example: I donate my time to my church for a couple of things, and am therefore allowed to deduct mileage to and from such activities. No problem. A few years ago a church **group** traveled to Europe to help celebrate the *Quincentennial of the Protestant Revolution*; on said trip we • performed a few times, • participated in inter-church discussions, • did some touristy things, and • so forth. We hoped that at least the *airfare* could be considered “mileage in support of a donation” … but we were wrong. Even though **more than half** of the trip was for the celebration aspect, the touristy stuff voided it.
But the bottom line is, /u/Ancient_Minute_7172 is absolutely correct: this is Not. Your. Problem.
LOL
How is the IRS going to prove there wasn’t business discussions.
Yes; this is normal and the least of the IRS’s worries.
>he plans to talk about business with everyone on the trip
He’s either lying, or telling the truth and is exhausting and obnoxious to be around.
1. Not your problem, you are not opening yourself up to any risk.
2. It’s technically wrong
3. It’s practically something that almost never gets caught
It is not deductible. They can take it and hope they don’t get audited as they would lose and possibly face a penalty as well
I’d consider it nondeductable.
It is not ordinary.
It is not a necessary way to discuss business.
It includes an element of pleasure.
No way is that going to pass inspection.