This was raised in my mind by the thread concerning the oil rig worker in Quatar but I chose to bring it here so as not to hijack that thread. As I noted there, I have no knowledge of Federal Perdiems for foreign places. I had been under the impression that workers on oil rigs had few to no expenses while on the rigs. And yet I wondered if that even matters to the question of whether they may deduct a Perdiem. Let's suppose that James and John are tax professionals who go to a tax conference in a particular US city for several days. James is fasting for religious reasons, consuming only water and sleeping in his car. John stays with relatives in the city and except for grazing on food that is provided free to everyone at the convention he takes all his meals with these relatives and he pays them nothing for the room and board. There undoubtedly is a Federal Perdiem that is applicable. May James and John take it?
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Last edited by erchess; 03-04-2008, 02:41 AM. -
No per diem for meals without having some meals expense. You could look at the whole Sailortax.com fiasco that progressed over the last few years... If you have no meal expense, you get no deduction. So no deduction for meals you never paid for.
As for the foreign rates, you can get them from http://www.state.gov/travelandbusiness/ (as IRS Pub. 463 says.) For example Iraq is $11 per day in Baghdad and $10 per day in other areas. Do not use per diem rates for lodging, only for M&IE.
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