Long Haul Trucker meal deuction

[dsminer]

We have a client who is scheduled for a round trip route that takes about 14 hours. New transportation board regulations require day trips of this length to include a mandatory rest and recovery period. Thoughts on whether he can take a prorated meal per diem deduction? The required rest requirement seems to make the assignment meet the two criteria - 1) Substantially longer than a normal days work and 2) Taxpayer needs to rest of sleep to meet the demands of work while away from home. Thoughts?

[jsamans]

We have a client who is scheduled for a round trip route that takes about 14 hours. New transportation board regulations require day trips of this length to include a mandatory rest and recovery period. Thoughts on whether he can take a prorated meal per diem deduction? The required rest requirement seems to make the assignment meet the two criteria - 1) Substantially longer than a normal days work and 2) Taxpayer needs to rest of sleep to meet the demands of work while away from home. Thoughts?

Pub. 463 says "You do not have to be away from your tax home for a whole day or from dusk to dawn as long as your relief from duty is long enough to get necessary sleep or rest." In the same section of the publication, an example dealing with a truck driver not qualifying as traveling away from home bases the driver's not qualifying on "not [being] off to get necessary sleep."

If your client is required to rest on the basis of the DOT "hours of service" rules, then he or she clearly meets the threshold. Since it's single-day travel, yes, I would prorate to 75%, but keep in mind that people subject to the DOT rules get a deduction of 80% (versus 50%) of the Per Diem M&IE rate.