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I'm on a 1-year work assignment in a foreign country (Japan), away from my permanent residence (Michigan). While in Japan, I returned to Michigan to pay property taxes for a rental property, inspect the 2 existing rental properties (including, evaluating a previous repair, and ordering new repair work to be done), as well as went to a real estate viewing to consider purchasing a new rental property. (I ended up submitting a purchase agreement, and closing on that new property, even though having physically returned to Japan for work following that viewing.) One other tidbit is, on the way from Japan to Michigan, I stopped at a wedding for the weekend (3 nights) in Texas, and then continued onto Michigan for 2 nights. (This was booked as a single airline ticket). Is any of this (primarily airfare) tax deductible as a rental property business travel expense? I was reading about "tax homes", but couldn't figure out where mine was, and also, the applicability of expenses because of having traveled for a wedding at the same time.
ANSWER
The BIDaWIZ Team's Answer:
Given that that the work assignment in Japan is temporary, your travel back to the United States for managing personal real estate investments/properties would not be deductible. Please reference IRC Section 162(a)(2). Your tax home is still considered to be in Michigan since your permanent residence never changed. Generally, you change your permanent residency when you leave your home and do not intend to return, but instead, establish a new home somewhere else. This is not the case since the situation is temporary.
