Most people who come to the US on a work visa (example H, L), or on a student or exchange visitor visa (ex. F, J) expect to stay longer than one year. They changed their tax home when they entered the US and do not qualify to take away-from-home business expenses.
Home for the purpose of claiming a tax deduction means your Tax Home – the area where you normally work and earn the money which will be taxed on your income tax return.
When you are temporarily away from your normal work location, you may claim some ‘ordinary and necessary’ business expenses if your employer does not reimburse you for them.
If your employer does not have an accountable plan, or if it does not include common business expenses, urge your employer to set up or expand an accountable plan.
These deductions can be taken against wage income only through December 31, 2017. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 ended this type of miscellaneous deduction (subject to the 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI) floor, on Schedule A and Form 2106 through the year 2025.
Of course, on Schedule C or E, similar deductions may be business expenses.
Temporary has a time limit. Less than twelve months.
The rules are exactly the same on all the income tax forms, the 1040 forms, and the 1040NR forms.
To keep your original tax home when you leave it temporarily for a different location where you will have taxable income, you must realistically expect to spend less than one year working in that temporary location. You must either return to your original tax home (the first work location) or go to a different work location within a year’s time.
A visiting scholar coming to a university for a one or two semester program may be temporarily away from the tax home. This scholar may claim the normal expenses that someone on a business trip might have: lodging for one person (with receipts), one-half of meal expenses if there are receipts, or one half of the standard USG meals allowance (M) included in the standard per diem rate for that location, plus the incidental expenses amount. Plus other ordinary and necessary business expenses that are helpful and normal in that work situation.
The visitor may have rented a room, or, share an apartment with a colleague or a family member. Only the pro-rated share of the rent and the utilities for one person may be claimed, and only if the visitor has receipts, or other proof of all payments, such as cancelled checks, and so on.
If the visitor has a cellphone on which he makes a mix of business and personal calls, or a mix of business and personal web searches, the visitor may claim a ‘business percentage’ of the phone and data costs. This is based on actual total cost, and a careful analysis of how much of the total usage is business related and how much is personal. Again, receipts are necessary to claim a deduction.
Perhaps the visitor attends professional conferences and pays registration fees that are not reimbursed. These may be business expenses when away from home just as they would be when at home.
Someone who comes to the US with the realistic intention of spending more than a year in the US has changed their tax home. They do not qualify to claim away-from-home expenses for lodging and food.
They do qualify to claim other business expenses, such as registration fees for professional conferences.
All types of itemized business expenses are claimed on Schedule A. The amount that is claimable is the amount that is more than 2% of the adjusted gross income.