Sorry for continued confusion. On 2 CPA websites it states 100% deductibility for "Meals included as taxable compensation to employees or independent contractors" and on page 12 of irs 463 it states:
Exception to the 50% Limit for Meals:
Your meal expense isn’t subject to the 50% limit
if the expense meets one of the following exceptions.
3—Self-employed reimbursed expenses.
If you are self-employed, your deductible meal
expenses aren’t subject to the 50% limit if all of
the following requirements are met.
• You have these expenses as an independent contractor.
• Your customer or client reimburses you or
gives you an allowance for these expenses
in connection with services you perform.
• You provide adequate records of these expenses to your customer or client. (See
chapter 5.)
In this case, your client or customer is subject to the 50% limit on the expenses.
Example. You are a self-employed attorney
who adequately accounts for meal expenses to
a client who reimburses you for these expenses. You aren’t subject to the limitation on meal
expenses. If the client can deduct the expenses, the client is subject to the 50% limit.
If you (as an independent contractor) have
expenses for meals related to providing services for a client but don’t adequately account for
and seek reimbursement from the client for
those expenses, you are subject to the 50%
limit on non-entertainment-related meals and
the entertainment-related meal expenses are
nondeductible to you.
So it looks like my client is limited to deducting 50% of the cost of the meal that he reimbursed me for and I, the independant contractor am able to deduct 100% . My client reimburses me for meals when I am away from my personal home. So I should be able to deduct 100% of the cost of meals that occurred while away from my home/tax home during the 1st year of project ie Jan - June of 2023?
Again, I still have the question of if/when does the project become infinite ie my tax home shifts from my personal home to the location where I am spending the majority of my work time .. the one year anniversary of project start(June 2023) or 15 month(Oct 2023) when it became apparent that project would continue for 2 more years? If and when the project becomes "infinite" do I lose all deductibility of meals , miles, and lodging resulting in payment of taxes on the meals, miles, and lodging reimbursement I receive from my client and he includes in the taxable income on my 2023 1099-NEC. ?
