hotel deductions due to disability

[POCAHONTAS]

client has to drive long distance for his job, but is legally disabled with a bad back and because it is too painful for him, to drive every day he stays in a hotel.

Are his hotel costs deductible??
Thanks

[Koss]

Hotel

Your post is not entirely clear...

It could be interpreted to mean that he stays in a hotel "every day," that is, that he actually lives in a hotel, or hotels, even on days when he is not working. I don't think that's what you meant.

Staying in a hotel while traveling is a deductible expense if the primary purpose of the trip was business.

My guess is that there are two different issues here:

(1) It sounds like the length of the drive, even round-trip, would not normally require an overnight stay. Suppose, for example, that the drive is typically an hour and a half each way. The employer clearly would not consider it an overnight trip. But he needs to stop and rest at a hotel because of his back. Maybe he is actually using the hotel room during the day, as opposed to spending the night.

(2) Assuming that this is in fact a deductible expense, the question arises as to whether it is deductible as a business expense (Form 2106 -> Schedule A, 2% floor), or as a medical expense (10% floor).

Before I even try to answer, I'd like to know if I really understand the question.

BMK

[David1980]

(1) It sounds like the length of the drive, even round-trip, would not normally require an overnight stay. Suppose, for example, that the drive is typically an hour and a half each way. The employer clearly would not consider it an overnight trip. But he needs to stop and rest at a hotel because of his back. Maybe he is actually using the hotel room during the day, as opposed to spending the night.

Yes, but we need to determine what the tax home is for this taxpayer before getting to deducting this as a travel expense.

[gmama]

Misc. Ded not 2% ?

Might this be considered as in Impairement-related work expense - a misc. itemized deduction not subject to 2% AGI limitation? It would have to be "ordinary and necessary". Might take some research on court cases to see if anything similar pops up.

[Koss]

Impairment

gmama wrote:

Might this be considered as in Impairement-related work expense

That's what I was thinking, but I didn't express it very well.

IRS Publication 502 contains a basic definition, and one example.

I'm not sure you'll find any relevant court cases on this...

BMK

[ATSMAN]

Not sure if your facts meet my clients situation but I have a lady client who has to drive 60 miles from her tax home to work and her hours are 10am to 8pm on the average. On days when she is too tired to drive back home or has late meetings or bad weather in the winters she stays at a Hampton Inn at the city where her work is. We have been deducting her hotel expenses and food for 2 years now on 2106.

[Gene V]

Not sure if your facts meet my clients situation but I have a lady client who has to drive 60 miles from her tax home to work and her hours are 10am to 8pm on the average. On days when she is too tired to drive back home or has late meetings or bad weather in the winters she stays at a Hampton Inn at the city where her work is. We have been deducting her hotel expenses and food for 2 years now on 2106.

Just curious, how did you figure where her tax home was? Isn't your tax home where your main job is.

[New York Enrolled Agent]

but I have a lady client who has to drive 60 miles from her tax home to work and her hours are 10am to 8pm on the average. On days when she is too tired to drive back home or has late meetings or bad weather in the winters she stays at a Hampton Inn at the city where her work is.

It seems to me that Gene V. is correct - your tax home is your principal place of work.

More importantly, the Tax Court also agrees with that - from Johnson "This Court’s jurisprudence holds that an
individual’s tax home is generally the location of his or her principal place of employment. See Daly v. Commissioner, 72 T.C. 190 (1979); Kroll v. Commissioner, 49 T.C. 557, 561-562 (1968); cf. Commissioner v. Flowers, 326 U.S. 812 (1946).

Atsman - I think you need to reword what you wrote: I have a lady client who has to drive 60 miles from her personal residence to work (her TAX HOME) ..,

[Burke]

Not sure if your facts meet my clients situation but I have a lady client who has to drive 60 miles from her tax home to work and her hours are 10am to 8pm on the average. On days when she is too tired to drive back home or has late meetings or bad weather in the winters she stays at a Hampton Inn at the city where her work is. We have been deducting her hotel expenses and food for 2 years now on 2106.

I am afraid that is non-deductible commuting.

[ATSMAN]

She used to work at the branch that is 5 miles from her home for years so I consider that her tax home. Then due to staffing change she was sent to another branch 60 miles away. We don't know how long this will last because the lady told me that she is sick and tired of driving 2 hours a day and may quit if she is not posted back at her original branch.

We don't deduct any mileage. Just hotel on days that she has to stay overnight. Last year I think that was 10 days in total at $65 a day on the average.

[ddoshan]

So her job at the new location would be indefinite and thus her new tax home.