Tax deduction vacation

[Jesse East]

I just finished two tax books, “Tax Free Wealth” and “Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor”, and both books talk about how to deduct vacation expenses with some planning. However, my tax advisor told me scouting properties does not count as a deduction.

This did refer to a specific trip we took for the day to another city a couple of hours away. We meet with several realtors at about 5 different properties. We schedule these appointments ahead of time and the only reason we took the trip was to look for properties, and that is all we did that day. I feel like based on what I have now read that this mileage at the least should be deductible and most likely lunch as well.

What are your thoughts?