topic Per Diems while simultaneously employed & self-employed in Deductions & credits

Per Diems while simultaneously employed & self-employed

AdamM1 — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 05:19:43 GMT

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!!

Re: Per Diems while simultaneously employed & self-employed

xmasbaby0 — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 01:40:58 GMT

You are posting from TurboTax Live. You can arrange for the Live help you are paying the extra fee for with your questions from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4124827-how-do-i-connect-with-a-tax-expert-in-turbotax-live

Re: Per Diems while simultaneously employed & self-employed

AdamM1 — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 01:54:48 GMT

I have discussed with 3 different advisors and none were previously aware of the laws and rules of per diem, but were just Googling it. Two of the three even sent me to the same website which neither realized was specifically for people in the Transportation Industry.

I am hoping for advice from someone who understands this specific issue and the Live advisors have not been helpful on this so far.

Re: Per Diems while simultaneously employed & self-employed

JamesG1 — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 02:05:33 GMT

The 'rent' terminology is awkward but your contract would make it clear that you are being reimbursed for your expenses as well as being paid for your services rendered.

No lodging per diem is allowed for a business deduction, only actual expenses are allowed.

Meal per diem would be allowed as outlined in this TurboTax Help.

You would have to eat if you were home, so this might explain why the IRS limits meal deductions to 50% of either the:

Actual cost of the meal
Standard meal allowance

This allowance is based on the federal meals and incidental expense per diem rate that depends on where and when you travel.

It would be wise to break down your outlays as you explained, especially with Meals 50% and Meals 100%. Clarity is rarely a problem if you ever have to explain this in an audit down the road.