$52/80% Meal Allowance Deductible WITHOUT Itemizing?
 

Hello, I'm a wannabe trucker with a tip about the $52 daily meal allowance, now deductible at 80%,
or $41.60 per day that a (HOS-limited) trucker is away overnight.

With all due respect to such informative guys as the Rev. Vassago: I believe the $41.60 daily
deduction can be taken WITHOUT itemizing on Form 1040 (I believe he, and others, have stated
that you must itemize to take it).

If I am not mistaken, Line 24 of the Federal Form 1040 allows Form 2106 or Form 2106EZ
entries, without itemizing.

Furthermore, Line 5 (Part 1) of Form 2106EZ specifically mentions the meal allowance for DOT
workers subject to the HOS limits, and allows an entry there!

Therefore I conclude that the $41.60 daily deduction (for all overnight OTR work) can be listed
on Form 2106 or 2106EZ, and deducted from gross income on Line 24 of Form 1040.

I have, during my former career as a CAD (Computer Aided Design) designer on two aerospace
jobs in 2007 and 2008, sucessfully taken this deduction without challenge. I was taking 50%
of the standard $39 daily rate because I was not a "transportation industry" worker subject to
HOS limits. But as I stated above, those workers -- you truckers, soon I hope to say we
truckers -- are specifically mentioned on Form 2106EZ.

So take that $41.60 per overnight-duty day whether OR NOT you itemize!

If I have misread the rule, Rev (or anyone else), please inform me. I'm not trying to claim to
be an expert on this, but I have done my own taxes for 37 years with only one audit.

Comments, corrections, expressions of everlasting gratitude?....:lol:

According to the intstructions for form 2106 (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i2106.pdf - specifically under "notes"), miscellaneous deductions on line 24 are limited to 2% of your AGI. Unless your AGI is in the $400,000 - $500,000 range, you would never be able to fully take advantage of your meal allowance by using line 24 rather than Schedule A. At least that's the way I'm reading it.

BTW, this line 24 is new. It doesn't appear on older 1040's.

The Lord giveth - the IRS taketh away...

Rick

But -- again, unless I'm misreading these rules -- the 2% limit is a floor, not a ceiling. Publication 529 states
(under the section entitled Deductions Subject to the 2% Limit, on page 2) "You can claim the amount of expenses that
is more than 2% of your adjusted gross income.

Notice it doesn't say less than. Or that the deduction "cannot exceed 2% of your
gross income." Which is how you are interpreting it.

In other words, if your adjusted gross income is, say, $100,000 -- you could deduct any
expenses over $2,000, or 2% of the 100 grand. So a meal allowance of $10,400 would entitle
you to a deduction of $8,400.

The 2% "limit" is not a maximum figure, or cap, that restricts the deduction. It is a minimum threshold
that must be exceeded prior to taking any deduction whatsoever.

Correct? I believe you're interpreting the rule far too restrictively....;)

After digging into it, I believe you're correct. But why would you want to give up 2% of your deductions just to save having to itemize? If your meal allowance is above the standard deduction, it doesn't make sense NOT to itemize - especially if you have other deductions to go with it.

In any case, the context in which I was referring to it was with per diem pay given by a company, not in which way you file your taxes. If a company is reimbursing your meal allowance with per diem pay, it is essentially taking away that meal allowance from you, which pretty much forces you to take the standard deduction (unless you have other deductions that are greater than the standard deduction).

Taking the meal allowance deduction (that amount exceeding the 2% limit) on Line 5 of Form
2106EZ, and listing it along with some other expenses such as lodging on Line 24 of Form 1040,
allows you to keep the standard deduction too. It works for me. I don't have some of
expenses usually used to itemize, such as mortgage interest, although I did in the past. Now my
condo is paid off.

However I've not yet familiarized myself with the scenario you're talking about, regarding the
per diem pay, 'cuz I haven't received that tax-free compensation in my "road job" CAD assignments.
But if I'm sucessful in entering the OTR trucking industry -- I start school at Nu-Way on Sept. 22 --
I will no doubt be following your advice given in other threads about that situation. :thumbsup:

Hmm...... per the instructions....

Generally, employee expenses are deductible only on
line 21 of Schedule A (Form 1040) or line 9 of Schedule A
(Form 1040NR). But reservists, qualified performing artists,
fee-based state or local government officials, and
individuals with disabilities should see the instructions for
line 10 to find out where to deduct employee expenses.

You still need to use schedule A last I knew. Your form 2106 rolls up into the schedule A (or supports it)

Unless you are a reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-based state or local government officials, or an individual with disabilities you should probably stay out of line 24 on the 2008 1040 form. IMHO

Thinking i need to submit an amended tax return since i never itemized, just took the basic deduction. Granted i was only OTR from early Nov. till the end of the year. but i should still get the per diem for the days i was OTR....yeah?

NO :hellno: :hellno: :hellno: . The OP was way off with this... but then....you go right ahead.....:D

Incorrect assumption, but I can see how folks would believe this considering how vaguely the
rules are written. But Form 2106 (or 2106EZ) does NOT have to be used with Schedule A
exclusively, I am positive of this. I have successfully written off meal, lodging and travel
expenses this way three times during my long drafting career -- in 1983, 2007 and 2008,
when working in other states away from my tax home.

No, I am not "way off" on this. Whichever way you file -- itemizing or standard deduction --
the meal expense deduction can be taken. You simply use 2106 or 2106EZ if you lack enough
unreimbursed expenses, mortgage interest, etc. to make itemizing worthwhile. Then, you use
the standard deduction PLUS the Line 24 deductions. That's why it's there....

But you do whatever you are comfortable with. As I said previously, we (my wife and I) simply
don't have enough of certain expenses to enable us to itemize anymore. :thumbsup: