Business travel expenses: what the CRA accepts

Travel is one of the expense categories the CRA looks at most closely on a small business review, for an obvious reason: trips are often part work and part not, and the documentation is usually thin. The rules themselves are not complicated. Applying them honestly to a real trip is where the work is.

The basic rule

The CRA states you can deduct travel expenses you incur to earn business and professional income, and lists public transportation fares, hotel accommodation and meals as examples. Airfare, train and bus tickets, taxis and ride shares, parking, and baggage fees all sit in the same category when the trip is a business trip.

Vehicle costs for a business trip are handled separately under the motor vehicle rules, which run on a logbook and a business-use percentage rather than as travel.

Meals are limited

The CRA is explicit that in most cases the 50% limit applies to the cost of meals, beverages and entertainment when you travel. It also applies to food and beverages served, and entertainment enjoyed, on an airplane, train or bus where the ticket price does not include those amounts.

The underlying rule caps the claim at 50% of the lesser of what you actually spent and an amount that is reasonable in the circumstances. There are defined exceptions — for businesses that regularly provide food or entertainment for compensation, for costs you bill on to a client and show on the invoice, and for certain employee events — which our guide to the 50% rule works through.

Conventions have their own rules

Conferences are a common reason to travel, and the CRA's convention expenses rules are more restrictive than general travel:

• You can deduct the cost of attending up to two conventions a year.
• The convention has to relate to your business or professional activity.
• It has to be held by a business or professional organisation within the geographical area where that organisation normally conducts its business. The CRA notes this second limit may not apply where an organisation from another country sponsors the convention and it relates to your business.
• Where the fee includes food, beverages or entertainment that the organiser does not show separately, you subtract $50 for each day the organiser provides them. That daily $50 is claimed as a meal and entertainment expense and is itself subject to the 50% limit.

The CRA adds that incidental items such as coffee and doughnuts available at convention meetings or receptions are not treated as food or entertainment for this purpose.

Mixed business and personal trips

This is where most travel claims get into trouble. A trip that combines a genuine business purpose with a holiday is not fully deductible. The costs that relate to the business portion are; the personal portion is not, and neither are a spouse's or family member's costs unless they have their own genuine business role on the trip.

The practical approach is to be able to show, from the documents themselves, why the trip happened: a conference agenda, meeting confirmations, a client's location, an invoice for work done there. Where a trip is genuinely split, apportioning on a day count — business days versus personal days — is a defensible starting point, provided the underlying itinerary supports it. A trip built around a holiday with one meeting attached is not a business trip with an incidental holiday.

What to keep

Card statements are not enough on their own. For each trip, keep the itinerary and tickets, the hotel folio, itemised meal receipts, and the conference registration or agenda where one exists. Add a short note of the business purpose and who was present — that note costs nothing at the time and is close to impossible to reconstruct three years later. Everything travels with your other records for the full retention period.

The bottom line

Business travel is deductible when it is genuinely incurred to earn income; meals along the way are generally limited to 50%; conventions are capped at two a year with their own conditions; and mixed trips have to be split honestly. If your business involves regular travel, or you are planning a trip that mixes work and personal time, it is worth confirming how it should be claimed with a CPA before you book rather than at filing time.

This article is general information for Canadian business owners and is current as of July 2026. It is not tax, legal or accounting advice, and it does not create a client relationship. Tax rules change and your situation is unique — please speak with a CPA before acting on anything here.