Is per diem taxable?
Per-diem is not taxable, if all the conditions are met. Conditions include: You can find this and more in this IRS FAQ document re the per-diem.
??  Edit: that's what I thought. Unless there is some specific tax code that I don't know about, there's no way to pass through money to the next year. But if someone on Reddit is saying something and quoting a tax law, I'd at least like to see it. "According to this post on TurboTax forums, you could deduct it as an ""Unreimbursed Employee"" expense. This would seem consistent with the IRS Guidelines on such deductions: An expense is ordinary if it is common and accepted in your trade, business, or profession. An expense is necessary if it is appropriate and helpful to your business. An expense does not have to be required to be considered necessary. Office rent is not listed explicitly among the examples of deductible unreimbursed employee expenses, but this doesn't mean it's not allowed.  Of course you should check with a tax professional if you want to be sure." Yes, you can deduct from your taxable profits (almost) any expenses incurred in the course of your business. See here for HMRC's detailed advice on the subject. The fact that you have salaried PAYE employment as well makes no difference. You need to fill out form 8606.  It's not taxable, but you still need to report it "It will count as income, and you can deduct as much of your moving expenses as allowed by tax laws.   If you also count it as a reimbursement, then you're double-taxed - once for the income and again by reducing your moving deduction. The ""reimbursement"" amount is designed for when you get literally reimbursed for exact expenses directly, bypassing the tax on that compensation. The only difference will be that you (and your employer) pay FICA and medicare on the ""relocation bonus"" that you wouldn't if you were reimbursed.  Also, with a reimbursement you are not incentivized to minimize the cost of your relocation (since it's not your money you're spending).  With a bonus, since you get to keep whatever is left over, you have a vested interest in keeping your expenses down." Here is an IRS citation to support my comment above - Exceptions. The 10% tax will not apply if distributions before age 59   ½ are made in any of the following circumstances: Made to a beneficiary (or to the estate of the participant) on or   after the death of the participant, Made because the participant has a qualifying disability, Made as part of a series of substantially equal periodic payments   beginning after separation from service and made at least annually for   the life or life expectancy of the participant or the joint lives or   life expectancies of the participant and his or her designated   beneficiary. (The payments under this exception, except in the case of   death or disability, must continue for at least 5 years or until the   employee reaches age 59½, whichever is the longer period.), Made to a participant after separation from service if the separation   occurred during or after the calendar year in which the participant   reached age 55, Made to an alternate payee under a qualified domestic relations order   (QDRO), Made to a participant for medical care up to the amount allowable as a   medical expense deduction (determined without regard to whether the   participant itemizes deductions), Timely made to reduce excess contributions, Timely made to reduce excess employee or matching employer   contributions, Timely made to reduce excess elective deferrals, or Made because of an IRS levy on the plan. Made on account of certain disasters for which IRS relief has been   granted. "The bill proposed to ""Under existing law, employers may take tax deductions for the costs associated with moving jobs out of the country. The proposed legislation would have eliminated that, and used the resulting new revenue to fund a 20 percent tax credit for the costs companies run up ""insourcing"" labor back into the U.S."" From http://abcnews.go.com/m/blogEntry?id=16816660 as found by beermethestrength. I will explain this in an example below.   Lets use allen edmonds. I manufacture shoes and sell them in the US. The facts we will assume is Revenue or sales is $100. Manufacturing cost is $50. Tax rate is 10%. Therefore, Profit before tax is $100 -$50 = $50. Tax is $5. Net profit is $45.  However, suppose offshoring to Canada saves money. They say please and thank you at every opportunity and the positive work environment allows them to work faster. Correspondingly to make the same number of shoes our costs has decreased because we pay less for labour. The manufacturing cost decreases to $30. However, we incur costs to move such as severance payments to layoff contracted employees. (I promise to hire you and pay $1 a year for 2 years. I fire you at the end of the first year. To be fair, I pay you $1) However, it can be any legitimate expense under the sun. In this case we suppose this moving cost is $10. Revenue or sales is $100. Manufacturing cost is $30. Moving cost is $10. Tax rate is 10%. Profit before tax is $100 -$40 = $60. Tax is $6. Net profit is $54. Yay more jobs for Canadians.   However, the legislation would have changed this. It would have denied that moving expense if you were moving out of the country. Therefore, we cannot consider $10 worth of expenses for tax purposes. Therefore Revenue or sales is $100. Manufacturing cost is $30. Tax rate is 10%. Profit before tax for tax purposes is $100 - $30 = $70. Tax is $7. Net profit for tax purposes is $63. However, my accounting/net/real profit is $53. I must deduct the $10 associated with moving. The difference between the two scenarios is $1. In general our net profit changes by our moving cost * our tax rate.  There is no tax break associated with moving. In Canadian tax, any business expense in general can be deducted as long as it is legitimate and not specifically denied. I am uncertain but would assume US tax law is similar enough. Moving expenses in general are legitimate and not specifically denied and therefore can be deducted.  Offshoring and onshoring are seen as legitimate business activities as in general companies do things to increase profit. (forget about patriotism for the moment).  The bill was to make offshoring more expensive and therefore fewer companies would find offshoring profitable. However, republicans defeated this bill in congress. Most likely the house  For completeness let us examine what would happen when we onshore (bring jobs from canada to us :( ). In our example, silly unions demand unrealistically high wages and increase our cost of manufacturing to $50 again. We decide to move back to the US because if it is the same everywhere for the sake of silly national pride we move our jobs back to the US. We incur the same moving cost of $10. Therefore we have Revenue or sales is $100. Manufacturing cost is $50. Moving cost of $10. Tax rate is 10%. Profit before tax for tax purposes is $100 - $60 = $40. Tax is $4. However, we are given a 20% tax credit for moving expense. $10 * .2 = 2. The government only assess us tax of 2. Net profit is $38. Tax credits are a one time deal so profit in the future will be $100 -$50 - $5 = $45. Same as the first example.  insourcing = onshoring , outsourcing = offshoring for the purposes of this article. Not quite the same in real life." "Some of the 45,000 might be taxable. The question is how was the stipend determined. Was it based on the days away? The mile driven? The cities you worked in? The IRS has guidelines regarding what is taxable in  IRS Pub 15 Per diem or other fixed allowance.  You may reimburse your employees by travel days, miles, or some other   fixed allowance under the applicable revenue procedure. In these   cases, your employee is considered to have accounted to you if your   reimbursement doesn't exceed rates established by the Federal   Government. The 2015 standard mileage rate for auto expenses was 57.5   cents per mile. The rate for 2016 is 54 cents per mile. The government per diem rates for meals and lodging in the continental   United States can be found by visiting the U.S. General Services   Administration website at www.GSA.gov and entering ""per diem rates"" in   the search box. Other than the amount of these expenses, your   employees' business expenses must be substantiated (for example, the   business purpose of the travel or the number of business miles   driven). For information on substantiation methods, see Pub. 463. If the per diem or allowance paid exceeds the amounts substantiated,   you must report the excess amount as wages. This excess amount is   subject to income tax with-holding and payment of social security,   Medicare, and FUTA taxes. Show the amount equal to the substantiated   amount (for example, the nontaxable portion) in box 12 of Form W-2   using code “L""" This is taxed as ordinary income. See the IRC Sec 988(a)(1). The exclusion you're talking about (the $200) is in the IRC Sec 988(e)(2), but you'll have to read the Treasury Regulations on this section to see if and how it can apply to you. Since you do this regularly and for profit (i.e.: not a personal transaction), I'd argue that it doesn't apply. IRS Publication 463 is a great resource to help you understand what you can and can't deduct.  It's not a yes/no question, it depends on the exact company use, other use, and contemporaneous record keeping. If the $5000 is income, then you need to pay income taxes on it.  That's simply the way it works.  Hourly rate has nothing to do with whether or not you pay taxes. If it helps, try to think of the $5000 as the first $5000 you make for the year.  Now it's covered by your standard deduction and you're not paying taxes on it. Form 1099-misc reports PAYMENTS, not earnings.  This does not imply the EARNINGS are not taxable in the year they were earned. Both US GAAP and IFRS are accrual basis frameworks. 99.9% of businesses report under those frameworks (or their local gaaps, but still accrual based). Usually it's public sector entities which are cash-basis in my experience.   Anyway, accrual basis has more to do with revenue recognition, not taxation, so that's not really relevant here. The value date of an invoice (ie in which moment it becomes taxable) depends on tax legislation (which sets the rules to determine the so called date of taxable event), not so much on accounting principles.   In many cases taxable rules are intertwined with cash collection/payment, however, to prevent creative accounting for tax evasion purposes. For example, provisions for various uncertain future events might be required by accounting rules, but the corresponding expenses are generally not deductible for tax purposes (so you won't be able to deduct them until the event actually occurs and you pay). Get answers from your equivalent of the IRS, or a local lawyer or accountant who specializes in taxes.  Any other answer you get here would be anectdotal at best.  Never good to rely on legal or medical advice from internet strangers. Currently certain money back policies are tax free and a vast majority are taxable. There are revised guidelines that would govern which policies are tax free. At a broad level the rule is that the sum assured under the policy should be 10 times the premium paid. There is no distinction of single premium or yearly. Hence certain policies of single premium are taxable. Further there is a TDS also in place from this year. This article gives a good overview. You should consult the documentation of your specific policy and check with your insurance company or CA.