Business travel expenses: what the CRA accepts

Travel is a category the CRA scrutinizes on small business reviews, because trips are often part personal and documentation is thin. The rules are simple; applying them honestly to a real trip is the work.

Are business travel expenses tax-deductible? The CRA’s basic rule

The CRA lets you deduct travel expenses incurred to earn income: fares, hotels, meals, taxis, parking and baggage fees on a business trip. In short, the CRA travel expenses business owners can deduct are those incurred to earn income, with meals generally limited to 50% and any personal portion excluded.

Vehicle costs fall under the motor vehicle rules, using a logbook and a business-use percentage. For a corporate car’s personal use, see the company car taxable benefit.

Meals are limited

In most cases the 50% limit applies to meals, beverages and entertainment while travelling, including on a plane, train or bus where the ticket does not include them.

The claim is capped at 50% of the lesser of the actual cost and a reasonable amount. Exceptions cover businesses that provide food or entertainment for pay, costs billed to a client on the invoice, and some employee events; see our guide to the 50% rule.

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 organization within the geographical area where that organization normally conducts its business. The CRA notes this second limit may not apply where an organization 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.

Incidentals such as coffee and doughnuts at convention meetings or receptions are not treated as food or entertainment.

Mixed business and personal trips

This is where most claims go wrong. A trip mixing business and holiday is only partly deductible: the business portion counts, the personal portion does not, nor do a spouse’s or family member’s costs without a genuine business role.

Show from the documents why the trip happened: an agenda, meeting confirmations, a client location, an invoice. For a split trip, a business-versus-personal day count is a defensible start if the itinerary supports it. A holiday with one meeting attached is not a business trip.

What to keep

Card statements are not enough. For each trip keep the itinerary and tickets, hotel folio, itemized meal receipts and any conference agenda, plus a short note of purpose and attendees, which is nearly impossible to reconstruct later. Keep them with your other records for the full period. For small business travel expenses, that set of records for each trip is what lets a claim hold up when the CRA reviews it.

The bottom line

Business travel is deductible when incurred to earn income; meals are generally limited to 50%; conventions are capped at two a year; mixed trips must be split honestly. If you travel often or plan a mixed trip, confirm the claim with a CPA before booking.

Whether this applies to you depends on your year-end and structure; ask about your own situation and a CPA replies, usually the same business day, free.

Travel is one category among many with its own limit; what a corporation can and cannot deduct sets out the others.

General information for Canadian business owners, current as of July 2026; not tax, legal or accounting advice, and no client relationship. Rules change, so speak with a CPA before acting.