Can I claim meal per diem for 5 straight months as a 1099 contractor?

You're in luck - there's no specific time limit on how long you can claim per diem while away from your tax home. The IRS allows this deduction as long as your assignment is temporary (generally expected to last less than one year) and you're working away from your main place of business. Your five-month assignment clearly qualifies as temporary. The total amount might seem high, but that's simply the result of being away for an extended period - nothing inherently wrong with claiming the full amount you're entitled to. Regarding the cafeteria question - this is where it gets a bit tricky. If meals were provided by your employer/client free of charge, you typically cannot claim meal per diem for those days. The per diem is meant to reimburse you for out-of-pocket expenses. If you had access to free meals but chose not to eat there, you might have difficulty justifying the per diem expense. However, if the cafeteria was simply available but you had to pay for the meals (even at a discount), you can still claim your per diem. Just make sure you keep good records of your work arrangement and travel dates.

After struggling with almost this exact situation, I found an amazing tool that completely simplified my contractor tax deductions. I had traveled for 4 months for a project and was confused about per diem rules and potential red flags. I used https://taxr.ai to analyze my situation and it saved me hours of research. Their system reviewed my specific travel scenario and provided clear guidance on exactly how to handle the per diem deduction correctly. They even explained how to document everything properly to avoid audit concerns. For extended travel like yours, they have specific recommendations about how to handle the cafeteria situation too. I was worried about claiming too much, but they showed me exactly what was allowed and pointed out some additional deductions I hadn't even considered for my contractor expenses.

I wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after I decided to give it a try. I was really surprised at how helpful it was for my contractor situation! The system asked me really specific questions about my travel assignment, housing situation, and the cafeteria access that I mentioned in my previous comment. It turns out I was overthinking everything - the tool explained that I could claim partial per diem for the meals that weren't provided, and it calculated exactly what percentage I was entitled to. What impressed me most was that it flagged potential audit triggers and showed me exactly what documentation I needed to keep. It even created a custom record-keeping template for my situation. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with contractor tax deductions!

I had a similar situation last year with extended business travel and couldn't get a straight answer about per diem from anyone! After days of trying to call the IRS with no luck, I finally used https://claimyr.com and got through to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent confirmed that I could claim the full per diem for the days I was traveling even though my assignment was several months long. They explained that as long as the assignment was under one year and I maintained my regular tax home, I qualified for the deduction. Having that confirmation directly from the IRS gave me peace of mind when filing.

I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After my frustration boiled over trying to get tax answers, I decided to try Claimyr despite my skepticism. I'm honestly shocked to report it actually worked exactly as advertised. I got through to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes and specifically asked about extended per diem for 1099 contractors. The agent confirmed that the one-year rule is what matters, not the total amount. They also clarified that if the company cafeteria provided free meals, you cannot claim per diem for those specific meals, but can still claim for any meals you paid for yourself. The agent even sent me a follow-up email with the specific IRS publication references. I've spent WEEKS trying to get this information. Wish I hadn't been so dismissive in my earlier comment!

Just a practical suggestion based on my experience as a traveling consultant - keep a really detailed log of which days you ate at the cafeteria vs. paying for your own meals. The IRS is fine with you claiming per diem, but if you get audited, you'll need to show you weren't double-dipping by claiming per diem for meals that were provided free. I use a simple spreadsheet with dates and which meals were covered vs. which ones I paid for out of pocket. It takes like 30 seconds a day to update and could save you thousands if you ever get questioned. Also take pictures of any cafeteria schedules or communications about the provided meals as backup documentation.

Has anyone actually calculated what the reduced per diem would be if certain meals were provided? Like is there an official breakdown for how much of the daily rate is allocated to breakfast vs lunch vs dinner?

This is exactly the situation I was in last year! I was a 1099 contractor on a 6-month assignment about 400 miles from home. The key thing to remember is that the IRS doesn't care about the total dollar amount - they care about whether your assignment meets the "temporary" criteria (under one year) and whether you're truly away from your tax home. I claimed the full per diem for the entire period and had no issues. The amount does seem high when you calculate it out, but that's just the reality of extended business travel. Make sure you keep detailed records of your assignment dates, the temporary nature of the work, and your tax home location. For the cafeteria situation, I had something similar - free lunch was provided but I had to pay for breakfast and dinner. I calculated partial per diem using the standard breakdown (breakfast 20%, lunch 30%, dinner 50%) and only claimed 70% of the daily rate. Keep good documentation showing which meals were provided versus which you paid for yourself. One tip: consider keeping receipts for a few meals even though you're using per diem. It can help demonstrate that you were actually incurring meal expenses during your assignment if questions ever come up.