Patent ID: 6978254

Claim:
A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment comprising: a city rate table identifying allowed per diem expense rates for a given tax year for a plurality of cities as identified by a city code; means for inputting and maintaining data in said table; means for inputting cities visited and durations of stay for a taxpayer comprising: a ship location table, said ship location table including city rate codes for each day of a tax year for a plurality of ship name codes; means for inputting names of ships on which a taxpayer has worked and starting and ending dates for work on each of said ships; means for determining locations and durations of stay for the taxpayer based upon the ship location table and the input ship names and starting and ending dates for work on each of said ships; means for inputting expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer's employer; means for calculating a total of all per diem expenses based upon the per diem table and the input cities and number of days of stay in said cities; means for offsetting the reimbursements against said total to determine an incidental expense allowance; a client information table, said information table comprising a taxpayer's name, address, zip code, Social Security number and a work code; a USA States table, said States table comprising each state's name, a state ID code, a lower 48 state code, and an IRS center code; said city rate table further comprising a tax year, a city code, combined meal and incidental rate, full rate, and high cost city code; a city name table, said city name table comprising said city code, said city, said state ID code, and a country name; supporting schedules, said supporting schedules merging data from said client information table, said USA States table, and said city rate table with the input cities and durations of stay for the taxpayer; and means for inputting and maintaining data in each of said tables.