Cruise as a business tax write off

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 

It sure is a lot smoother than the old days of fumbling through a stack of boarding documents.  

 

"Think of it as when you are driving using your car's navigation system, but you decide to turn on to a different road - the navigation system needs to reconfigure the new direction."

 

The GPS lady that lives in my dashboard hates me because of this.  

LOL @ the GPS lady hates you. We sometimes hate her for the excessive amount of time that she sometimes needs to access satellite.

[ldubs]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

LOL @ the GPS lady hates you. We sometimes hate her for the excessive amount of time that she sometimes needs to access satellite.

 

My kids laugh at me for arguing with the GPS lady.  😀

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, ldubs said:

 

My kids laugh at me for arguing with the GPS lady.  😀

My DW scolds me for getting impatient while it acquires satellite.

[navybankerteacher]

58 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

My DW scolds me for getting impatient while it acquires satellite.

My DW sides with me - she also gets annoyed with having to wait for that smooth-talking laggard.

[Ferry_Watcher]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

OK, here's another question. When we checked in in Southampton on NCL (one of the lines you do I assume), the agent retook the picture for both of us. How do you decide if the picture from the online check in needs to be retaken or not? And the online check in required glasses off (just like passport photos), but the check in agent in Southampton said when I asked about my glasses that I could keep them on.

 

In Seattle, NCL has it's own dedicated pier (Pier 66), so I do not work with them.

 

Honestly, I don't know how the system(s) handles security photos.  For example, we personally were on a HAL cruise a few months ago, we submitted photos when we did our online check-in, but I noticed that the photo the ship was using was a much older photo of my spouse (I could tell by the facial hair).

 

When we are are checking in passengers at the pier, agents are trained to accept passenger photos that are more typical of Linkedin - head/shoulder photo, that shows the full face without sunglasses or a hat.  I have retaken photos of passengers who submitted topless photos (both M/F); boudoir type photos; action/sports photos; photos that included their significant other; you name it, we have probably seen it.

 

Sometimes the passenger has submitted a photo, but for some reason it doesn't show up when we are checking in the passenger, so we have to retake their photo.  It happens.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

My DW sides with me - she also gets annoyed with having to wait for that smooth-talking laggard.

Mine gets annoyed too, just not as quickly as I do.

[leaveitallbehind]

On 12/29/2023 at 12:12 PM, Charles4515 said:

If a cruise line sponsors and gives  a cruise they shouuld report that to the IRS. Some Youtubers have sponsors and get  products to review. Most get income from subscribers and YouTube reports the income to the IRS. 

Agree. 

[Rib Jig]

back to original topic, if possible;

skimmed entire thread & been reading IRS info, too;
will be calling IRS soon for advice, but...
am fully ensconced in full time travel-related profession since 1988;

travel deductions every year; never yet cruise travel until 2023;
google searching "deducting cruise travel" gives advice that seems

always connected to conventions on cruise ships which has nothing

to do with me & mentions deduction upper limits per cruise;
also, FYI, if cruise line does NOT isolate food costs, then tax payer
does not have to follow 50% scheme; appreciate advice from anyone
claiming to know if upper limit applies when NOT on cruise for convention;

any related advice from other self-employed who have already taken
cruise travel deductions in previous years -- thanks in advance!
 

 

[MacMadame]

On 12/30/2023 at 8:56 AM, Charles4515 said:

As far as I know the coworkers never got audited but they might  not have told me.  They also may have been exaggerating to me what they did. 

I've had a couple of businesses and I did get audited once. It was a legitimate business but a few of my expenses were not documented that well so I ended up owing the IRS about $250. 🤣

 

I watch a lot of cruise YouTubers and not one of them has ever been "sponsored" by a cruise line. However, at least one of them has been hired by cruise lines to produce content for that line. I don't know how they get paid but it's possible a free cruise was involved. 🤷‍♀️

 

On 1/4/2024 at 11:33 AM, ldubs said:

 

My kids laugh at me for arguing with the GPS lady.  😀

My GPS doesn't know how to pronounce the simplest of street names. I yell at her a lot.

[donaldsc]

This thread was started in 2007 which is 17 years ago..  Enough already!!! I suggest that the moderator should lock this thread.

 

DON

[Rib Jig]

3 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

This thread was started in 2007 which is 17 years ago..

FALSE.

posted

• #1  Posted December 28, 2023

[donaldsc]

26 minutes ago, Rib Jig said:

FALSE.

posted

 

• #1  Posted December 28, 2023

 

My mistake.  I misread.  Sorry.

 

DON

[SoloAlaska]

For me some cruises are business expenses and some aren’t. Alaska last year I planned on visiting several prospective customers in ports along the way plus at the last port I went on to teach for 3 days (back in Canada) before then flying home. The year before I focused on finding inspiration for my product line and developed several products inspired by Alaska landscapes and photos I took which I used in promotional items and packaging.

 

My cruise in December this year is to just relax and have fun so it is not a business expense or tax deductible. I might have a meeting pre cruise with a potential but that’s it.

 

keep expenses reasonable and document why it’s a business expense.

[Rib Jig]

thanks for response;

in my case, business is constant;

when doing land travel, reasonable hotels, transportation, entry fees, etc., 100% deductible;

meals & entertaining 50% deductible;

for land, there is no $$ upper limit nor # of consecutive days limit;

what I am unclear about wrt cruise travel,

is there expenses upper limit on reasonable cruise fees?

is there cruise consecutive days upper limit?

NCL doesn't separate buffet costs from overall cruise fee

so IRS says OK for food deduction = 100%;

 

[navybankerteacher]

It would be interesting to sit in on an actual audit while a creative deducter SUCCESSFULLY convinces the IRS examiner that his cruise fare represented legitimate business expenses which are accepted.

 

Some of these posts are reminiscent of posts by folks who ALWAYS come out ahead in the casino.

[Rib Jig]

10 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

It would be interesting to sit in on an actual audit...

read this:

https://bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Content/Cruise-Tax-Deduction.aspx
(note: I know nothing about this source)

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, Rib Jig said:

read this:

Instead you should read this, IRS Publication 463, Travel Gift and Car Expenses:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

 

In particular read the section Luxury Water Travel that begins on page 12 and continues on page 13, which includes examples of how to compute allowable deductions. Note that the Luxury Water Travel deduction rules are quite different than the rules governing what is deductible when attending a convention or seminar on a cruise ship, which are discussed on pages 13 and 14 .

Edited Wednesday at 09:48 PM by njhorseman

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, Rib Jig said:

read this:

https://bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Content/Cruise-Tax-Deduction.aspx
(note: I know nothing about this source)

Don't read it, because in addition to questions about the reliability of the source, the page is providing advice about deductions applicable in 2015. Both the rules and the deductible dollar amounts may have changed...actually likely have changed in the near decade long time since that web page is created. 

When relying on internet search engines you have to pay careful attention to what the search presents. Google is not always your friend.

[Rib Jig]

14 hours ago, njhorseman said:

...applicable in 2015.

straight from IRS & current:

 

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463

 

Luxury Water Travel

If you travel by ocean liner, cruise ship, or other form of luxury water transportation for business purposes, there is a daily limit on the amount you can deduct. The limit is twice the highest federal per diem rate allowable at the time of your travel. (Generally, the federal per diem is the amount paid to federal government employees for daily living expenses when they travel away from home within the United States for business purposes.)

 

Daily limit on luxury water travel.
The highest federal per diem rate allowed and the daily limit for luxury water travel in 2023 are shown in the following table.

 

	2023 Dates	Highest Federal Per Diem	Daily Limit on Luxury Water Travel
	Jan 1 – Mar 31	$564	$1,128
	April 1 – April 30	498	996
	May 1– May 31	398	796
	June 1 – Sep 30	538	1,076
	October 1 – 31	401	802
	November 1 - 30	394	788
	December 1 - 31	564	1,128

Example.

You are a travel agent and traveled by ocean liner from New York to London, England, on business in May. Your expense for the 6-day cruise was $6,200. Your deduction for the cruise can’t exceed $4,776 (6 days × $796 daily limit).

 

Not separately stated.
If your meal or entertainment charges aren’t separately stated or aren’t clearly identifiable, you don’t have to allocate any portion of the total charge to meals or entertainment.

Edited yesterday at 11:53 AM by Rib Jig

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, Rib Jig said:

straight from IRS & current:

 

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463

The PDF version of IRS Publication 463 is exactly where I told you to look back in post #67. I even gave you the page numbers where you would find the information so you wouldn't have to scroll though a lot of other unrelated information.

[mnocket]

I've always found Cruise Critic a great source for tax advice😜

[Rib Jig]

8 hours ago, njhorseman said:

The PDF version of IRS Publication 463 is exactly where I told you to look back in post #67.

Thanks for confirming.
Sorry, got you mixed up with non-authoritative #65 post.