Can I deduct per diem meal allowance for days spent away in clinical trials for healthy adults?

[Ron_Paxton]

 Its my main source of income. it isnt for medical purposes as i am healthy and gaining no benefit medically. i am only receiving stipend in return for offering my services and receive 1099 end of year from each site just like any self employed independant contractor.

i spend 1 to 2 weeks at each site and return home. can i deduct the meal per diem on the days i spend at the unit as well? or only days spent travelling from and to my house / the clinical trial in relation to each site? I have receipts to prove where i was and for how long. Also forms describing time spent at each study site, Each site is over 150 miles from my home ....where my home office is housed which is where i conduct the scheduling of each of my temporary "work assignments" and also where i conduct transcription for clients from time to time as a seperate form of income.

I have receipts to prove where i was and for how long. Also forms describing time spent at each study site

[TaxGuyBill]

Are you reporting this as Self Employment income?

Is it profitable after you deduct all expenses (including the Meal Per Diem)?

[Ron_Paxton]

yes I am. And yes currently i have like 16k profit after expenses and total 28k made all year. i have a definite gain after expenses

[Ron_Paxton]

I am being fed meals i am not being charged for them though. Also my income generated from these studies is considered recruitment incentive and not reimbursement for travel expenses. Nothing in publication 463 actually says that I have to have purchased a meal or not allowed to have been fed by someone else on days i want to claim the meal allowance, right? only that i have to have been travelling away from home and sleeping there to perform my daily duties ( as a research participant). I am taking medication and giving lots of blood day in and day out and am required to sleep and stay hydrated to be able to produce blood and homestasis for my body so the study data is good on the pharmeceutical being investigated.

If i got audited, would an agent find discrepancy in my taking the deductions throught my entire stay at each site? should i stick with only days i was on the road and not yet checked in to each unit?

[TaxGuyBill · Accepted solution]

It seems deductible to me.

You are temporarily out-of-town, away from your "Tax Home" (your home office which seems to be your "Principal Place of Business").  That makes the meals and lodging expenses deductible.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p587#en_US_2016_publink1000226302

A "possible" exception would be if they provided all of the meals.  If that is the case, I would need to research that.

Generally, you use 3/4 of the Meal Per Diem for days to and from the temporary location, and the full amount for the full days that you are there.  You enter the full amount into TurboTax, then the program will apply a 50% limitation.

[Ron_Paxton]

They do indeed provide the meals, sometimes not on the first day of checkin though we are required to fast for 1 to 2 meals. And For some instances they dont like followup visits. I would deduct on those days though.

[Ron_Paxton]

I am being fed meals i am not being charged for them though. Also my income generated from these studies is considered recruitment incentive and not reimbursement for travel expenses. Nothing in publication 463 actually says that I have to have purchased a meal or not allowed to have been fed by someone else on days i want to claim the meal allowance, right? only that i have to have been travelling away from home and sleeping there to perform my daily duties ( as a research participant). I am taking medication and giving lots of blood day in and day out and am required to sleep and stay hydrated to be able to produce blood and homestasis for my body so the study data is good on the pharmeceutical being investigated.

If i got audited, would an agent find discrepancy in my taking the deductions throught my entire stay at each site? should i stick with only days i was on the road and not yet checked in to each unit?