If you take your spouse on official foreign travel, the expenses on their travel and stay are deductible from business income for tax purposes...

This has been a controversial area in tax matters over the years, but there are enough tax judgements where the courts have opined that taking a spouse (who otherwise does not work in the same company), is allowable business expenditure because...

👉🏼 Business development meetings may require some social obligations, which necessitate the accompanying of a spouse for social reasons...

Such as your presence being required for an award ceremony where taking a +1 is necessary for social reasons. And your acceptance of such award has great value in PR and brand image of the business and its founder.

👉🏼 It’s important to justify “commercial expediency” or necessity for the spouse to go for business reasons, along with “social custom”... The expenses, of course, should be reasonable and not lavish.

👉🏼 I would also recommend that businesses record in writing the need for such social custom and business requirement through a Board Resolution and keep important evidence ready as it often attracts scrutiny.

👉🏼 A few examples of cases, where it has been upheld by the courts as allowable are as under.

- HUL vs ACIT (ITAT Mumbai) - ITA No. 3951/Mum/2008 (DOJ - 16.05.2023)
- CIT v. Aspinwall & Co. Ltd. [1999] 235 ITR 106 (Ker.)
- CIT v. Apollo Tyres Ltd. [1999] 237 ITR 706
- J. K. Industries Limited Vs CIT High Court of Calcutta Calcutta I.T.A. No. 649 of 2004

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My spouse is my Partner in business and legit does all the work on business trips, while I do all this nonsense on social media :P

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A Chartered Accountant with about 10 years of experience in areas of Tax Advisory, Startup Consulting, Fundraising, Audits, Deal Advisory, Business Modelling and contract CFO services.

Winner of the ISB Young Leader Award 2017 and the Best All Rounder, PGP Class of '17, Sarthak has also been published about in the leading financial newspapers such as The Financial Express as possibly the youngest Indian to have completed the courses of CA, CS and CMA along with a graduate degree in Financial & Investment Analysis from University of Delhi, all by the age of 2