Your clarification makes things look better for your case. I first took “room & board” to mean you stayed in a school dormitory. It’s clearer now that you bartered your labor for a fancy European vacation. When you barter your labor, it is usually self employment income. The fancy “room and board” are also not necessarily expenses of the job, as I stated earlier. Although a case could be made for deducting some of it.
I also agree with your accountants: "just do what you think is right".
Please let us know if you get response from the IRS. I found this wording at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="
https://www.irs.com/articles/contacting-the-irs">https://www.irs.com/articles/contacting-the-irs</a> : “When using the email address, keep in mind the IRS will not answer questions through that address. You must call the phone numbers above for personal tax questions. Do not include personal information in any emails.”
