Is the Per Diem I received from my employer taxable?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 1, 2019
9 replies
85 views

I received a per diem from my employer while traveling outside of the country. The per diem was $50/day. The employer does not require employees to submit receipts to substantiate expenses. However, the amount is below the per diem limits. Is this amount considered taxable? I received a 1099 from my employer for this. I do have receipts that substantiate food expenses incurred while traveling. Can I deduct the expenses incurred from the income received from my per diem??

Best answer by PatriciaV

Yes, if your per diem payments were reported to you on Form 1099, you will include this income on your tax return.

To offset this income, you may report your actual expenses as Job-Related itemized deductions. However, to deduct employee business expenses, your total miscellaneous deductions must be more than 2% of your Adjusted Gross Income. And you must have more itemized deductions (ie: medical, mortgage interest, property taxes, charitable giving, etc.) than the Standard Deduction. (TurboTax calculates this for you, based on your entries.)

The easiest way to find any section of TurboTax is to use the Search box at the top right side of the TurboTax header. Click on the magnifying glass, type in the topic you need, hit Enter, and click the "jump to" link to go directly to beginning of this topic.

Or go to My Account >> Tools >> Topic Search. Type in your topic, then click the topic in the list to go directly to the start of this section.

To report the income, search on "1099-MISC" and for your expenses, search on "2106" (the form number).

PatriciaVAnswer

Level 15

Yes, if your per diem payments were reported to you on Form 1099, you will include this income on your tax return.

The easiest way to find any section of TurboTax is to use the Search box at the top right side of the TurboTax header. Click on the magnifying glass, type in the topic you need, hit Enter, and click the "jump to" link to go directly to beginning of this topic.

Or go to My Account >> Tools >> Topic Search. Type in your topic, then click the topic in the list to go directly to the start of this section.

To report the income, search on "1099-MISC" and for your expenses, search on "2106" (the form number).

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mathematrucker

Level 2

Any per diem you were paid but cannot deduct (for example if your situation forces you to take the Standard Deduction) is taxable income regardless of how it got reported to the IRS (if at all). Some employers list it as PER DIEM in box 14 of the W-2.

dhill874

Level 2

being a union hand we do not get a 1099 for per diem or truck pay. they did that few years ago and quickly fixed it when the spread was going to leave. if you're going to work out of state i would hire a cpa to do you're taxes because you will get audited and they are very nice to have when that happens. i just paid 3400 this year from an audit because h&r block wouldnt back me or help me and even kept my past records from me for months. i would claim you're days out, dependents, any sales or property tax, a work phone and any union dues or charities you paid. there are a few more but i would not itemize because the audit is a pain and with the above claims you will max out anyway. hope this helps