<veg_all[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

depends on the specific expenditure but all of the above are
good to have although just the credit card statement is the
weakest as a stand-alone item because it does not provide
sufficient detail for many tax purposes. if the expenditure
is for meals or entertainment purposes, in addition to the
receipt you should keep a record of who you met with and
business purpose of the meeting (you can simply write this
on the receipt and keep the receipt for your records). when
you check out of a hotel, keep the entire itemized bill as
it breaks down the room rate and room tax which is treated
separately from meals, room service, valet, etc., all of
which are treated separately for tax purposes.

remember, you don't need any of this documentation to take
an expense, you just need it to support the business purpose
of the expense upon audit. Looking at it from that
perspective, the more explicit documentation that you have
from the closest point to the source of the expenditure, the
better.

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

eg_all[at]yahoo.com wrote:

- quote -

The answer is: "It depends!"

Ideally, you will have No. 3. If not, you should at least
have No. 2.

For No. 1, some checks are OK, others are not. For example,
a check payable to "John Doe, M.D." is probably acceptable
because you would not make the check that way unless you
were paying a medical bill. By the same token, a check
payable to "Longs Drugstore" would not be acceptable, you
could have been buying anything -- toothpaste and razor
blades, e.g.

Lanny K. Williams, CPA
Nawarat, Williams & Co., Ltd
Income Tax Services for Expatriate Americans

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

What kind of receipts are needed to prove an expense to
the IRS, i.e:

1) Just cancelled check or credit card statement
2) Above plus the invoice
3) Both of above plus receipt

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >