Business expenses as I do my Taxes
By bobmnu
@bobmnu (8157)
United States
March 3, 2010 1:10am CST
As I am doing my taxes and trying to account for every penny I claim on my taxes I heard that the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) had an article on Congressmen get a per diem in cash, in the local currency, from the State Department when traveling on Government business. At the end of the trip they are to return the left over money to the government, but many do not, and the State Department will convert any left over funds back to US Dollars. They do not have to account for the money in any way. If they keep the extra money they pay no taxes on it and they can spend it on anything they want. When I cover a sporting event for the newspaper I have to pay for my meals on the road and they are not tax deductible.
I guess being a member of the ruling class has its benefits, after all it not their money so why should they worry about receipts?
To read the article her is the link.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703429304575095592193574752.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_PoliticsNCampaign_4
In the whole scheme of things it amounts to several hundred thousand dollars a year which is too little for congress to be concerned about, after all its not their money!!
2 people like this
3 responses
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
3 Mar 10
Many businesses do this. When I worked for the railroad I was sent to Atlanta twice. The company paid for my airfare, rental car and hotel room in advance. I also received cash for expenses and was not required to provide my boss with receipts or to return anything that was left over. Why? Two reasons. First of all, the amount I was given was a reasonable expectation of what my personal expenses would be. I could save money by eating at a fast food joint, for instance, or blow it all on one meal at the finest restaurant in that city. The choice was mine but, if I overspent, I wasn't getting another dime. Secondly, there's the matter of bookkeeping. If I had returned with 20 receipts and $14.87 left over, each and every expense along with the money returned would have had to be accounted for in our records. Multiply that by 10 staff members who were sent to conferences and such every year and you have a lot of unnecessary account reconciling to do. Now, multiply that by every member of the government who travels on government business and receives per diem cash. And, no, you shouldn't pay taxes on it because it's not income. On the flip side, you can't claim it as a business expense either.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
3 Mar 10
This is also a normal practice for businesses that have people out on the road a lot as part of their job. There are many accounting practices that businesses use, all of which are geared towards tracking revenue, expenses and inventory (if they have any) in a way that is preferable to them. The goal is to account for everything so no one way is the *right* way. In the case of the railroad I worked for, travel was not part of our jobs...it was something that the company chose to have us do under certain circumstances. The conferences that I attended related to the nationwide online rail management system that I used, which is headquartered in Atlanta. It was something that the railroad decided that I should attend yearly so that I was well versed on any upgrades and changes that were about to be implemented. It was also their decision not to require any of their staff to dip into their personal funds while on a company funded trip which was for the benefit of the company. Lil, every business and government entity has an accounting system. Yours chose to itemize each expense and retain receipts, mine chose to "give" staff an amount of cash they deemed appropriate for the duration of time they were going to be away, which was recorded in budget line Travel:Personal Expenses. There is no law on the books that requires a business to itemize these expenses.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
3 Mar 10
I had a job were I traveled A LOT (almost weekly). The company paid for and booked my flight, hotel room and rental car for me ahead of time. I had to save receipts on all my meals and other exspenses while I was on a trip. I was given an dollar limit for how much they would pay each day for meals and other things. But I was not given it up front. I had to pay for out of my own pocket and then turn all those receipts in and get paid back for it.
If a trip came up last minute (happened sometimes) I had to pay for ALL of it out of my own pocket (flight, hotel, rental car, meals, gas, etc) then get paid back when I got back. I had to turn receipts in for EVERYTHING. I had to account for every dime.
In my division of the company we had over a hundred people that traveled as much as I did...we all had to account for every dime. The company did not "give" away free money.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
3 Mar 10
Personally I like the way your company did it. I traveled a lot. With me having to cover my own expenses until I got paid back...it could get expensive. It took usually two to three weeks to get paid back for a trip once I turned in my paperwork and reciepts..sometimes longer. Sometimes they owed me for several trips at one time...which means they owed me a good chunck of change..Plus having to keep up with all those reciepts and paperwork. It was a pain.
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
3 Mar 10
I heard about this on Cavuto's show yesterday. If one person can do it and git away with it then everyone should be able to do it and get away with it. What is so special about being a "lawmaker" that allows you to brake the law? If these dolts haves little or no concern over several hundred thousand dollar of taxpayers money why in the bluest of blue moon would we ever let them spend 3.8 trillion dollar?
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
3 Mar 10
Everyone can do it and get away with it. Private businesses routinely do this.
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
3 Mar 10
The IRS considers $75.00 a day for meals overseas typical and that is what most business allow. The Congressional rules state that it is for meals and travel and any money left over should be returned. The State Department gives them the money in local currency and when they leave it is exchange back into US currency and given to the congressmen. Why not just have the State Department keep it?
Many of these people are so corrupt and everyone keeps covering up for them.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
3 Mar 10
If the Congressional rules states that any left over funds should be returned then, I agree, they are in violation and no one should be covering for them.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
3 Mar 10
The amount of disreguard that our law makers have for us and our money is just sickening. All of that is tax payer money.
We need a major clean up in washington. And more laws to protect our money...from them.
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
3 Mar 10
I think that a congressman should have one staff person and it can not be a relative. There was a report of a Congressman who hired his son full time to be an aid, at the same time he was a full time lobbyist for a firm and reported on his income tax that he was a full time banker. I am going to start voting for anyone other than the incumbent unless they cut the size of government, cut spending and reduce my taxes.
