The Context
I am a full time travel blogger / professional travel photographer and officially filed for an LLC in January 2021 as income was beginning to snowball.
I also was employed for a 6-month contract with Anheuser-Busch tasked with living primarily in a camper van and traveling full time photographing our national parks. Wages were paid weekly and an extra $30/ day was added as a stipend. Additionally, I was allowed to expense up to 50 nights accommodation with $60 limits for the 180 days I was on the road.
I received a 1099-MISC along with my W2 that showed the full amount of $30x180 days + accommodation and product reimbursement for a total of about $9k, but it was recorded as "Rental income".
The Question:
Being that I was creating content for my self-employment business throughout the entire 6 months and received "Rent" as opposed to reimbursement, am I able to claim the ME&I daily per diem in my self-employment expenses? Same question for accommodation? Every purchase was made on my company credit card and it seems the way Anheuser-Busch is reporting reimbursements is as additional income for subcontracting meaning no claims have already been made for my travel expenses on their end, from what I can tell.
If so, I have broken down my entire 6-month schedule county by county for the dates I was in each; do I file these as Meals 50%, Meals 100%, or Travel Expenses (or does it matter?).
A bit of an unusual situation and I appreciate any clarity!!
