What does HMRC (the UK tax agency) view as valid expenses for travel?
Food is almost never a valid expense. Reason for it is simple - if you were not conducting business you would have to eat too. Ad 1. I don't see why travel in that case would not be a valid expense, as the only reason for you to travel there is for business reasons. Ad 2. Unlikely as there is a duality of purpose. So while part of it may be business, you are also getting personal benefit from the visit (coffee/cakes etc) so that generally is a no. Ad 3. No, while you can claim for entertainment of employees (to sensible extends), that doesn't work when entertaining clients. Ad 4. If any part of the trip is for leisure then you cannot claim it as business expense, sorry! If there is any duality of use then it's not a business expense. And food, as always, is a no go.
"The HMRC has a dedicated self-help/learning site that is helpful here: It's important to tell HMRC that you are self-employed as soon as   possible.  If you don't, you may have to pay a penalty.  You don't want to pay more to HMRC than you have to as it is a waste   of your money. Your business has started when you start to advertise or you have a   customer to buy your goods or services.  It is at this point that your business is 'trading'. You cannot   register before you start trading. For example, if you advertise your business in the local newspaper on   15 January but do not get your first customer until 29 March; in this   case, you have been trading since 15 January. You must tell HMRC within six months of the end of the tax year in   which you start self-employment.  You must therefore register by 5 October.  But it's best to register well before this so that you do not forget   to do so. The HMRC also has a YouTube channel with help videos, and ""Am I Trading or Not?"" might be of particular interest to you. Most of the registration is based around the concept of starting to work with the intent to make a profit. By the letter of law and regulations, you should register within six months of the end of the tax year you started to avoid any potential penalty. However note that the situation is different based upon your intent. If you begin making/putting up videos online as a hobby with the hope that you can make something to help you defray the basic costs involved, and the total amount you make is relatively small (say, less than 500 pounds), you will not be classified as ""trading"" and likely have no need to register with HMRC.  As soon as you begin to get in regular payments, maybe a single payment of a significant size, or multiple payments for a similar service/item, you are vastly more likely to need to register. From my reading you would likely be safe to begin putting up videos without registration, but if you begin spending a large portion of your time over an extended period (multiple months) and/or begin getting payments of any notable size then you should likely register with the appropriate services (HMRC, etc). As is the case in both the USA and UK, simple registration is pretty cheap and the costs of little/no income are usually pretty minor.  Also note that the HMRC trading and self-employment regulations are unusual compared to many US laws/institutions, in that you are explicitly permitted to begin doing something and only register later. So if you start doing videos for an entire tax year + 5 months and make nothing significant, you'd seemingly be fine to never register at all." From a federal tax point of view, withdrawals from 529 plans are treated as taxable unless they are used on qualified expenses: The part of a distribution representing the amount paid or contributed   to a QTP does not have to be included in income. This is a return of   the investment in the plan. The designated beneficiary generally does not have to include in   income any earnings distributed from a QTP if the total distribution   is less than or equal to adjusted qualified education expenses   (defined under Figuring the Taxable Portion of a Distribution ,   later). [...] To determine if total distributions for the year are more or less than   the amount of qualified education expenses, you must compare the total   of all QTP distributions for the tax year to the adjusted qualified   education expenses. You'll have to include them in your income and pay normal income tax on them, and also in most cases pay an extra 10% penalty: Generally, if you receive a taxable distribution, you also must pay a   10% additional tax on the amount included in income. You'd have to check on the situation from a state perspective but I'd imagine it's quite similar. The basic point is that non-qualified distributions are treated as earnings. Here's an answer received elsewhere. Yes, it looks like you have a pretty good understanding the concept   and the process. Your wife's income will be so low - why? If she is a full-time student in any of those months, you may   attribute $250 x 2 children worth of income for each of those months. Incidentally, even if you do end up paying taxes on the extra $3000,   you won't be paying the employee's share of Social Security and   Medicare (7.65%) or state disability on those funds. So you still end   up saving some tax money. No doubt, there's no need to remind you to be sure that you submit all   the valid receipts to the administrator in time to get reimbursed.  And a must-have disclaimer:   Please be advised that, based on current IRS rules and standards, any advice contained herein is not intended to be used, nor can it be used, for the avoidance of any tax penalty that the IRS may assess related to this matter. Any information contained in this email, whether viewed or subsequently printed, cannot be relied upon as qualified tax and accounting advice. ... Any information contained in this email does not fall under the guidelines of IRS Circular 230. This very topic was the subject of a question on workplace SE https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/8996/what-can-relocation-assistance-entail TL/DR;  From tax publication 521 - Moving expenses table regarding how to report IF your Form W-2 shows... your entire reimbursement reported   as   wages in box 1         AND you have... moving expenses    THEN... file Form 3903 showing all allowable  expenses,* but do not   show any   reimbursements. There are tax implications Covered in tax publication 521 - Moving expenses and Employers tax guide to Fringe Benefits related to moving expenses. From the Employers View: Moving Expense Reimbursements This exclusion applies to any amount you directly or indirectly give to an employee, (including services furnished in kind) as payment for, or reimbursement of, moving expenses. You must make the reimbursement under rules similar to those described in chapter 11 of Publication 535 for reimbursement of expenses for travel, meals, and entertainment under accountable plans. The exclusion applies only to reimbursement of moving expenses that the employee could deduct if he or she had paid or incurred them without reimbursement. However, it does not apply if the employee actually deducted the expenses in a previous year.   Deductible moving expenses.   Deductible moving expenses include only the reasonable expenses of: Moving household goods and personal effects from the former home to the new home, and Traveling (including lodging) from the former home to the new home. Deductible moving expenses do not include any expenses for meals and must meet both the distance test and the time test. The distance test is met if the new job location is at least 50 miles farther from the employee's old home than the old job location was. The time test is met if the employee works at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months after arriving in the general area of the new job location. For more information on deductible moving expenses, see Publication 521, Moving Expenses. Employee.   For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees. A current employee. A leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction or control. Exception for S corporation shareholders.   Do not treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee of the corporation for this purpose. A 2% shareholder is someone who directly or indirectly owns (at any time during the year) more than 2% of the corporation's stock or stock with more than 2% of the voting power. Treat a 2% shareholder as you would a partner in a partnership for fringe benefit purposes, but do not treat the benefit as a reduction in distributions to the 2% shareholder. Exclusion from wages.   Generally, you can exclude qualifying moving expense reimbursement you provide to an employee from the employee's wages. If you paid the reimbursement directly to the employee, report the amount in box 12 of Form W-2 with the code “P.” Do not report payments to a third party for the employee's moving expenses or the value of moving services you provided in kind.  From the employees view: The not be included as income the expenses must be from an accountable plan: Accountable Plans To be an accountable plan, your employer's reimbursement arrangement must require you to meet all three of the following rules. Your expenses must have a business connection – that is, you must have paid or incurred deductible expenses while performing services as an employee of your employer. Two examples of this are the reasonable expenses of moving your possessions from your former home to your new home, and traveling from your former home to your new home. You must adequately account to your employer for these expenses within a reasonable period of time. You must return any excess reimbursement or allowance within a reasonable period of time. Also what is interesting is the table regarding how to report IF your Form W-2 shows... your entire reimbursement reported   as   wages in box 1         AND you have... moving expenses    THEN... file Form 3903 showing all allowable  expenses,* but do not   show any   reimbursements. If you mostly do work for businesses/individuals who are VAT registered it's a no-brainer to become VAT registered yourself... Although you will have to charge your customers VAT (and pass this on to HMRC) because they are VAT-registered they will reclaim the amount so it won't actually 'cost' them anything. At the same time, you can reclaim all the VAT you're currently being charged on your business expenditure (business equipment, tickets to business events, business software, accountancy/other business services you pay for, web hosting etc etc etc) However, if most of your clients are not VAT-registered it's not worth you registering. You would have to charge your customers an extra 20% (and they wouldn't be able to claim it back!) and you would have to pass this on to HMRC. Although you could still claim for goods and services you purchase for business use, essentially you'd just be another tax collector for HMRC. That said, at the end of the day it's up to you! VAT returns are quarterly and dead simple. Just keep a spreadsheet with your invoices (output tax) and receipts (input tax) and then do some basic maths to submit the final numbers to HMRC. No accountant required! This might be useful http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/individuals/cash-controls_en As far as I am aware there should be no issues with anything below 10000. But anything after that you have to declare. For information about the UK situation, check the government website at  http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/tax-arrive-uk.htm It all depends on the time. If I read it right (but you should check yourself) you can stay almost six months at a time, but at most 3 months on average over 4 years. Above this limit, you should either avoid the situation, or get professional advice, because things will be complicated. Can't both things be right..?   They're still losing a **SUBSTANTIAL** amount by offering tickets at $99, yet saving a **LOT** by not losing planes....    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Oe8T3AvydU    So.. again.. I reiterate, can't both things be right....?    Edit: I'll summarize the math shown in the video:    Assumes using an A380 with 154 seats, flying from NY to Washington DC   *All dollar amounts assume PER PERSON*    $2.50 - in fuel costs.   $1.50 - in crew costs.   $13.50 - in takeoff/landing fees in JKF and Dulles.   $6.00 - Domestic passenger tax.   $4.00 - Domestic Flight Segment Tax.   $5.50 - 9/11 Security Fee.   $11.50 - in Flight Cycle payment.   $14.00 - Airplane maintenance.   $10.00 - Overall operations overhead (conservative estimate)   $0.25 - Insurance.   **Our very rough grand total is!!**...   $68.75   Lets just round up to $70.. for other small things not covered..    And again, this is assuming we fly a very short distance, using very conservative estimates...