Hello Reader,

On average, I travel eight weeks every year.

Some of it is work, some of it is for fun and honestly, most of it is both. I’ve even been known to fly across the country to attend an event simply because a client was going to be there, and there’s nothing like meeting face-to-face when you can.

Beyond the connections, the hugs, the breakthroughs… there’s another big benefit: tax deductions.

Airfare, hotels, rental cars, meals: when you travel for business, a lot of your expenses are deductible. You probably already know this if you’ve ever gone to a conference or driven a few hours to meet with a client.

But what you might not know?

There are smart ways to combine a business trip with a family vacation, and legally deduct huge parts of that travel too. 🙌

Here’s how I make it work:

✈️ Start with business.

A lot of business trips are in fun cities or interesting locations. When possible, I’ll bring all or parts of my family on these trips. We’ll spend evenings together in an exotic location and even add extra days before or after the event to just explore.

For example, last time I went to Orlando, FL for a conference I flew my sister out to provide childcare and later met up with my other sister for a day at Disney World.

Airfare for my sister and related babysitting costs, airfare for myself, and the hotel the days of the business event all become tax deductions. Meals, Ubers, Lyfts, or shuttles, and other travel related costs could be all or partially deductible too.

🏖️ Make a vacation tax deductible.

This works in reverse as well. If you’ve planned a family vacation, you can write off parts of the trip by making one or two whole days business related.

Here are some ideas real clients have used to make their trips legitimate business trips:

• Arranged a networking dinner with past clients who lived in their hometown
• Curated a day of art and science museums as research for their design work
• Scheduled a "get-to-know-you" lunch with a potential collaborator
• Scouted locations and met with a coordinator for possible live events
• Spent a whole day alone in meditation so they could write marketing content

Notice that research for potential business ideas totally counts! As long as you document who you met, what was discussed, and why it was a strategic and intentional business day, then you can write off that day of your hotel or Airbnb, your airfare, and some of those daily travel expenses. That’s huge!

🛑 TIP: Don’t sprinkle “meetings” throughout a trip with lots of personal time in between… You’ll want a whole working day set aside or risk losing the deduction for airfare or mileage for the entire trip.

👨‍👩‍👧 Put your spouse, high school kids, and aging parents on your board.

The travel tips let you partially write off vacations, but did you know there’s a legitimate way to make an entire family trip tax deductible?

Is this an advanced move? Yes.

Is it 100% legal when done correctly? Also yes.

If you and/or your spouse own 100% of a Partnership, LLC, or S Corp, then this strategy is particularly effective for you. Listen up!

Your business needs a board of directors and as sole owners you control who you appoint to your board.

If you’re looking for ways to teach your kids about business and financial responsibility, or if you ever go to your parents for advice that you then apply to your business, consider making your kids or aging parents board members too.

Now travel with the whole family can be a “board retreat” and could be 100% deductible!

You do have to legitimately talk business during the trip like discussing goals, reviewing finances, or planning next quarter’s strategy together, but like any board retreat you can plan fun activities to help with creativity, team work, or as a reward for achieving past goals too.

And yes, that makes the travel and lodging deductible.

It’s just one smart way to keep more money in your family, instead of sending it to the IRS.

🧾 Document everything.

Travel is one of those areas the IRS loves to audit, so you’ve got to be organized here.

✅ Keep receipts

✅ Track mileage

✅ Make notes about who you met with, what you discussed, and when

Even better? Write it all down as it happens. Don’t trust your memory 6 months from now.

Want help setting this up before you travel?

Be profitable,