Writing off travel to look at potential rental property

[Steven Taylor]

Hi,

I am looking for a bit of advice on travel expenses, I am looking to travel to another city to look at rental property. I am currently owning all my rental property in my name (not LLC), and I am looking to acquire more property out f area, I am wondering if there is any way to write this off against rental income?

Thanks,

Steve

[Ebere Okoye]

An investor that travels to a region for the purpose of acquiring a rental property will be allowed to capitalize this cost as part of the investment, but this travel would not be a current year expense. If you are investigating a specific property to buy, and the deal doesn't work, you can deduct your personal expenses on Schedule A of your Form 1040 as "miscellaneous expenses."
If you are searching for a property but have no specific property in mind, and you decide not to buy, you cannot deduct these expenses; they are not related to any specific property.