Deductions & credits

Page 2, middle of the page:

Who should use this publication. You
should read this publication if you are an em-
ployee or a sole proprietor who has busi-
ness-related travel, non-entertainment-related
meals, gift, or transportation expenses

Chapter 1, Page 3, Travel, the publication talks about "home" and traveling away from, Example 1 is a railroad conductor who must take a mandatory rest break to get necessary sleep before starting the return trip. From the publication, using EX 1"YOU ARE CONSIDERED TO BE AWAY FROM HOME"

Page 6 Chap. 1 Travel "Who can use the standard meal allowance": 

You can use the standard meal allowance
whether you are an employee or self-employed,
and whether or not you are reimbursed for your
traveling expenses.

Page 6, Chapter 1:

Special rate for transportation workers.
You can use a special standard meal allowance
if you work in the transportation industry. You
are in the transportation industry if your work:
• Directly involves moving people or goods
by airplane, barge, bus, ship, train, or
truck; and
• Regularly requires you to travel away from
home and, during any single trip, usually
involves travel to areas eligible for different
standard meal allowance rates.

If this applies, you can claim a standard meal al-
lowance of $69 a day ($74 for travel outside the
continental United States) for travel in 2022.
Using the special rate for transportation
workers eliminates the need for you to deter-
mine the standard meal allowance for every
area where you stop for sleep or rest

Page 12, Chapter 2 MEALS and ENTERTAINMENT:

Individuals subject to “hours of service”
limits. You can deduct a higher percentage of
your meal expenses while traveling away from
your tax home if the meals take place during or
incident to any period subject to the Department
of Transportation's “hours of service” limits. The
percentage is 80%.
Individuals subject to the Department of
Transportation's “hours of service” limits include
the following persons.
• Certain air transportation workers (such as
pilots, crew, dispatchers, mechanics, and
control tower operators) who are under
Federal Aviation Administration regula-
tions.
• Interstate truck operators and bus drivers
who are under Department of Transporta-
tion regulations.
• Certain railroad employees (such as engi-
neers, conductors, train crews, dispatch-
ers, and control operations personnel) who
are under Federal Railroad Administration
regulations.
• Certain merchant mariners who are under
Coast Guard regulations

When using TT, since there is no specific calculation, TT does actually give you the ability to claim the deduction, but it still applies the Standard Deduction as well.

The process for claiming the deduction in TT Home and Business:

Employment Expense > create Occupation: Truck Driver > Continue > "I wasn't in any of these professions > I'm in the transportation industry > No > No > No > No > TELL US ABOUT THESE EXPENSES FOR YOUR TRUCK DRIVER WORK ENTER THE FOLLOWING UNREIMBURSED EXPENSES YOU HAD FOR THIS WORK. WE'LL ASK YOU ABOUT ANY ADDITIONAL EXPENSES YOU HAD NEXT. FYI: ENTERTAINMENT EXPENSES USED TO APPLY HERE, BUT THEY ARE NO LONGER DEDUCTIBLE.  Third expense down MEAL EXPENSES COVERED BY DEPTARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RULES (ENTER YOUR TOTAL MEAL EXPENSES HERE) > WE NEED TO ASK YOU SOME MORE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR MEAL EXPENSES > ANY OTHER EXPENSES (it then lists examples of standard expenses for many industries and gives space to enter items) > Reimbursements for your expenses: NO > 

The system states that it applies these to "State Taxes", my total deductions excluding this items was $13,700, if these extra items ($15,700 in my case) were added in, I would have been over the standard deduction. Since per publication 463 information, TT should be allowing these employee deductions to be counted. The IRS is less than helpful, they only refer you to the webpage. I talked to 4 different tax companies that specialize in the trucking industry and a Teamsters tax rep (I'm not a teamsters member) who helps teamsters members, he too stated that this deduction should be allowed per the publication, 5 different tax lawyers who all agree with me, these deductions should be allowed per the publication, but again, the forms and the programs are not setup correctly. I've even copied this information and sent it to my members of Congress and not gotten a realistic response back from them. They too are confused, and are unable to get a proper answer from the IRS. In the meantime, I will continue to attempt to claim this deduction per the publication, and per the method TT allows, if I'm audited then I'll use the language in the publication to fight it.