I'm an expedite courier so I do a lot of overnight business travel and also business travel that's out-of-town but not overnight (say 5 hours out and 5 hours back, for example). When I travel overnight, I can take the first-and-last-day standard meal allowance, regardless of how much of that amount I actually spend. (right?) When I do day trips, I can not take the standard meal allowance. (right?) Usually, you have to choose for the year if you're going to use standard meal allowance or actual cost but, can I take the standard allowance for overnight travel days and also deduct the actual cost from non-overnight travel days? Or by taking even one standard meal allowance while traveling, do I give up the opportunity to deduct the actual costs of non-overnight-traveling business meals for the year?
