Further to my question on the 29th of Dec. 2008. My accountant in the USA, who is not an international tax expert, has been deducting expenses I incur while working in the UK to lower my taxable foreign income in the USA (Deducting the expenses as I am working away from home). I will work a total of 10 months in the UK in 2009 and I wondered if there is a limit to the foreign expenses the accountant is allowed to deduct?

Thank you for your help.

Technically, there are NO limits as long as the expenses are legitimate.

Practically, excessively high expense deductions invite scrutiny by the IRS. Remember that the burden of proof on tax deductions rests with you, the taxpayer.

There are standard IRS per diem rates for the various parts of the U.K. If your daily expenses do not exceed those per diem rates, then you should have no problem.

As long as your stay in the U.K. does not exceed one year, deducting your daily living expenses is perfectly legitimate.

Thank you for this answer and your effort to answer.

Marelise

Glad to help!