Minimum expense requiring receipts?

wrote

Nope. You need to be able to prove all your claimed expenses.

But you bothered to remember to deduct it. $35 x 15% tax rate is $5.25.....about the cost of lunch if you eat on the cheap. Yeah, it's worth tracking.

-- Paul Thomas, CPA snipped-for-privacy@bellsouth.net

Like so many answers here, the answer to your question is: "It depends." First of all, you raise two issues -- having receipts and keeping track of expenses. The tax code requires you to keep records of all business income and expense; to keep records of all amounts reported on your return, whether income or expense. This has nothing to do with keeping receipts and there is no de minimis amount; either keep track or don't deduct. Generally, you have to have some documentation of all deductible expenditures; proof of what you paid, to whom, why, and how much. In the case of travel, meals, and entertainment, you do not need a receipt for expenditures of $75 dollars or less, unless a receipt is normally given. So, a $70 taxi fare would not require a receipt but a $60 hotel bill would. Most dine-in restaurants provide some sort of bill, McDonalds don't. Lanny K. Williams, CPA Nawarat, Williams & Co., Ltd. Income Tax Services for Expatriate Americans

You need records, not necessarily a receipt.

It's _more_ work to keep adequate records in the absence of receipts. Seth