Illustrated Example(p71)

Victor Jones teaches math at a private high school in North Carolina. He was selected to attend a 3-week math seminar at a university in California. The seminar will improve his skills in his current job and is qualifying work-related education. He was reimbursed for his expenses under his employer's nonaccountable plan, so his reimbursement of $2,100 is included in the wages shown in box 1 of his Form W-2. Victor will file Form 1040.

His actual expenses for the seminar are as follows:

	Lodging		$1,050
	Meals		526
	Airfare		550
	Taxi fares		50
	Tuition and books		400
	Total Expenses		$2,576

Victor files Form 2106-EZ with his tax return. He shows his expenses for the seminar in Part I of the form. He enters $1,650 ($1,050 + $550 + $50) on line 3 to account for his lodging, airfare, and taxi fares. He enters $400 on line 4 for his tuition and books. On the line for meals and entertainment expenses to the left of line 5, Victor enters $526 for meal expenses. He multiplies that amount by 50% and enters the result, $263, on line 5. On line 6, Victor totals the amounts from lines 3 through 5. He carries the total, $2,313, to Schedule A (Form 1040), line 21.

Since he does not claim any vehicle expenses, Victor leaves Part II blank. His filled-in form is shown on the next page.

Previous Page: Publication 970 - Tax Benefits for Education - Recordkeeping Next Page: Publication 970 - Tax Benefits for Education - How To Get Tax Help  Use  to find additional occurrences of topic items.