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Where to Report Business Travel, Gift, and Vehicle Expenses: Business Travel and Vehicle Expenses (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Where to Report Business Travel, Gift, and Vehicle Expenses” within business travel and vehicle expenses. The following material presents the IRS treatment of this topic, including the qualifications, exceptions, and examples in the source section. Read the rules alongside the facts of your own situation before deciding what to report, deduct, or document.

Adapted from Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses, published by the Internal Revenue Service. This guide retains the source edition’s years, amounts, deadlines, and examples. It is guidance for that edition, not a statement that the same figures apply to every tax year.

Context for these rules

This chapter explains where and how to report the expenses discussed in this publication. It discusses reimbursements and how to treat them under accountable and nonaccountable plans. It also explains rules for independent contractors and clients, fee-basis officials, certain performing artists, Armed Forces reservists, and certain disabled employees. The chapter ends with illustrations of how to report travel, gift, and car expenses on Forms 2106.

Where to Report Business Travel, Gift, and Vehicle Expenses

This section provides general information on where to report the expenses discussed in this publication.

Self-employed.

You must report your income and expenses on Schedule C (Form 1040) if you are a sole proprietor or on Schedule F (Form 1040) if you are a farmer. You don’t use Form 2106.

If you claim car or truck expenses, you must provide certain information on the use of your vehicle. You provide this information on Schedule C (Form 1040) or Form 4562.

If you file Schedule C (Form 1040):

Report your travel expenses, except meals, on line 24a;
Report your deductible non-entertainment-related meals (actual cost or standard meal allowance) on line 24b;
Report your gift expenses and transportation expenses, other than car expenses, on line 27b; and
Report your car expenses on line 9. Complete Part IV of the form unless you have to file Form 4562 for depreciation or amortization.

If you file Schedule F (Form 1040), do the following.

Report your car expenses on line 10. Attach Form 4562 and provide information on the use of your car in Part V of Form 4562.
Report all other business expenses discussed in this publication on line 32. You can only include 50% of your non-entertainment-related meals on that line.

See your form instructions for more information on how to complete your tax return.

Both self-employed and an employee.

If you are both self-employed and an employee, you must keep separate records for each business activity. Report your business expenses for self-employment on Schedule C (Form 1040) or Schedule F (Form 1040), as discussed earlier. Report your business expenses for your work as an employee on Form 2106, as discussed next.

Caution:

Form 2106 is only used by Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with impairment-related work expenses. Due to the suspension of miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2% floor under section 67(a), employees who don’t fit into one of the listed categories may not use Form 2106.

Employees.

If you are an employee, you must generally complete Form 2106 to deduct your travel and transportation expenses.

You are an employee deducting expenses attributable to your job.
You weren’t reimbursed by your employer for your expenses (amounts included in box 1 of your Form W-2 aren’t considered reimbursements).
If you claim car expenses, you use the standard mileage rate.

For more information on how to report your expenses on Form 2106, see Completing Form 2106, later.

Gifts.

If you didn’t receive any reimbursements (or the reimbursements were all included in box 1 of your Form W-2), the only business expense you are claiming is for gifts, and the special rules discussed later don’t apply to you, don’t complete Form 2106.

Statutory employees.

If you received a Form W-2 and the “Statutory employee” box in box 13 was checked, report your income and expenses related to that income on Schedule C (Form 1040). Don’t complete Form 2106.

Statutory employees include full-time life insurance salespersons, certain agent or commission drivers, traveling salespersons, and certain homeworkers.

Caution:

If you are entitled to a reimbursement from your employer but you don’t claim it, you can’t claim a deduction for the expenses to which that unclaimed reimbursement applies.

Reimbursement for personal expenses.

If your employer reimburses you for nondeductible personal expenses, such as for vacation trips, your employer must report the reimbursement as wage income in box 1 of your Form W-2. You can’t deduct personal expenses.

Income-producing property.

If you have travel or transportation expenses related to income-producing property, report your deductible expenses on the form appropriate for that activity.

For example, if you have rental real estate income and expenses, report your expenses on Schedule E (Form 1040), Supplemental Income and Loss. See Pub. 527, Residential Rental Property, for more information on the rental of real estate.

Vehicle Provided by Your Employer

If your employer provides you with a car, you may be able to deduct the actual expenses of operating that car for business purposes. The amount you can deduct depends on the amount that your employer included in your income and the business and personal miles you drove during the year. You can’t use the standard mileage rate.

Caution:

Value reported on Form W-2.

Your employer can figure and report either the actual value of your personal use of the car or the value of the car as if you used it only for personal purposes (100% income inclusion). Your employer must separately state the amount if 100% of the annual lease value was included in your income. If you are unsure of the amount included on your Form W-2, ask your employer.

Full value included in your income.

You may be able to deduct the value of the business use of an employer-provided car if your employer reported 100% of the value of the car in your income. On your 2025 Form W-2, the amount of the value will be included in box 1, Wages, tips, other compensation; and box 14, Other.

To claim your expenses, complete Form 2106, Part II, Sections A and C. Enter your actual expenses on line 23 of Section C and include the entire value of the employer-provided car on line 25. Complete the rest of the form.

Less than full value included in your income.

If less than the full annual lease value of the car was included on your Form W-2, this means that your Form W-2 only includes the value of your personal use of the car. Don’t enter this value on your Form 2106 because it isn’t deductible.

If you paid any actual costs (that your employer didn’t provide or reimburse you for) to operate the car, you can deduct the business portion of those costs. Examples of costs that you may have are gas, oil, and repairs. Complete Form 2106, Part II, Sections A and C. Enter your actual costs on line 23 of Section C and leave line 25 blank. Complete the rest of the form.

Using the guidance

Keep the documents that establish the dates, amounts, and circumstances described above. References to other chapters, forms, worksheets, or earlier and later sections refer to the linked IRS publication. Check the full publication and its updates before relying on a rule for a different tax year or a situation not addressed here.

Sources and further reading

Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses: How To Report — Where To Report — Internal Revenue Service; 2025 edition.

The cited U.S. government text is in the public domain. Source accessed October 28, 2026. Fynoptic has organized this material for educational use and is independent of, and not endorsed by, the IRS.

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