Your co-workers are relying on an untrue urban myth.
There
have been decisions on the deductibility of fireman's (EMT's would be similar)
meals that have gone both ways. As the dust settles, comparing all of the cases
indicates they may be deducted in a very few situations. These are:
- The
deduction is only for payments into a common mess fund (not the purchase
of meals themselves)
- that is
required as a condition of employment by your employer, and is not
contained in a union contract,
- you are
required to pay for the meals whether you eat them or not, and
- the funds
are maintained by the employer.
If
you don't meet each of the three criteria, the meals are not deductible. In
most of these plans, the payments are voluntary which would not meet the 2nd
criteria.
If
deductible, the expenses are a miscellaneous itemized deduction. Also, the
expenses are limited to the amount paid in, not a per diem rate. In the few
cases where they are deductible, they would be a miscellaneous itemized
deduction for employee business expenses. Miscellaneous itemized deductions are
only deductible if you itemize, and then only to the extent that your miscellaneous
itemized deductions such as employee business expenses exceed 2% of your
adjusted gross income (AGI).
For
example, if your AGI is $70,000, then only that part of miscellaneous itemized
deductions above $1,400 are deductible.
The
leading case for the deduction under the limited criteria above is Sibla v.
Comm. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10587705296303779143&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholar...
