Originally Posted by
myfrogger
It's definately tax deductible as a business expensive. If you are simply an employee then it generally isn't tax deductible. The 2% standard mentioned above may be correct but I can't verify it one way or the other.
That part is correct. I'm quite certain of it.
Originally Posted by
myfrogger
...Failure to report your proper income is tax fraud.
Tax fraud is not limited to underreporting income. Claiming an improper deduction can be fraudulent as well. One of the activities listed on
the IRS "General Tax Fraud" page is "claiming personal expenses as business expenses." Others include "overstating the amount of deductions" and "claiming false deductions."
Specifically, fraud in this context has been defined as "deception deliberately practiced to secure unfair or unlawful gain" or "intentional misrepresentation of truth in order to obtain something of value by inducing another [here the IRS] to rely upon false information." The element of willful deception must be present - that is, you have to have known something was false and said it anyhow. Here, even if the IRS feels the expense is not deductible, there is a reasonable basis for a taxpayer to have thought it would be. Therefore, no fraud.
In this specific case, I think a case can be made that these expenses are reasonable if the subscriptions were bought to facilitate business travel. The possibility that the subscriber might enjoy them does not change this, any more than the IRS requires meals on business trips to taste bad. (That they often do is a separate issue; as far as the IRS is concerned, they don't have to.)
Originally Posted by
myfrogger
Note: This post is for discussion reasons. Always consult competent professional advisers...
Always a good idea.