What this line means
The sum of lines 1 through 5. Column A adds lines 1, 2, 3 (lodging and transport), and 4. Column B adds line 3 (meals during travel) and line 5. This is your gross employee business expense total before subtracting any employer reimbursements.
Does this apply to you?
- You entered at least one expense on lines 1 through 5
- You have both Column A (non-meal) and Column B (meal) expenses to combine
- You are preparing to subtract employer reimbursements on line 7
Easy to overlook
Column A and Column B are separate totals This is not one number — it is two. Column A totals your non-meal expenses. Column B totals your meal expenses. They stay separate through lines 7, 8, and 9 because the 50% meals limitation only applies to Column B. Adding both columns together prematurely creates an incorrect total.1 IRS Form 2106 Instructions — Line 6
Check that each expense landed in the right column Before adding up line 6, verify that lodging and transportation from line 3 went into Column A and that only meals went into Column B. A common mistake is putting the entire line 3 amount in one column. The IRS splits these categories because they have different deduction rules downstream.2 General filing pattern — math errors on summation lines
Watch out for this
Simple addition errors. Line 6 is pure math, but mistakes here cascade through the rest of the form. If you misadd Column A, your unreimbursed expense on line 8 is wrong, and your final deduction on line 10 is wrong. Double-check each column separately before moving to line 7.
Footnotes
-
IRS Form 2106 Instructions. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i2106 ↩
-
IRS Form 2106 Instructions. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i2106 ↩