Will I need to pay taxes on a daily $200 meal stipend for apprenticeship?

This is a great question about meal stipends! Generally, meal stipends provided by employers are considered taxable income unless they meet specific IRS requirements for exclusion. For a meal stipend to be tax-free, it typically needs to be: 1) Provided on business premises for the employer's convenience 2) For meals consumed during overnight travel for business 3) Reimbursement for actual business meal expenses If your $200 daily stipend is simply additional compensation for meals without meeting these requirements, it would likely be considered taxable income. The employer should include this amount on your W-2 at year-end in your total taxable wages. I would recommend asking your HR department how they're handling the tax treatment of this stipend. Some employers might already be withholding taxes on it as part of your overall compensation.

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You should also check if your employer is using an "accountable plan" for the stipend. This makes a huge difference for tax purposes! Under an accountable plan, you might need to submit receipts or certify that you're using the money for meals during work hours. If they have an accountable plan and you follow the rules, the stipend might not be taxable. If it's a "nonaccountable plan" (just giving you money without any documentation requirements), then it's definitely taxable. Ask your HR department specifically if they have an "accountable plan" for the meal stipends - use those exact words.

Has anyone actually received a W-2 that shows meal stipends separately? Last year I had a job with a $75 daily meal allowance and I can't even tell if it was included in my taxable wages or not. It's driving me crazy trying to figure out if I reported everything correctly.

The $200 daily amount is quite high for a meal stipend and will likely be partially or fully taxable. For context, the current federal per diem meal rates range from about $59-79 per day for most locations (with some high-cost areas going higher). Any amount above the applicable federal rate for your location would typically be considered taxable income. Since you mentioned this is loaded onto a card rather than being reimbursement for actual expenses, it sounds like it might be structured as a non-accountable plan, which would make the entire amount taxable. However, the specific tax treatment really depends on: 1) Whether your employer has structured this as an accountable or non-accountable plan 2) Your work location and the applicable federal per diem rates 3) Whether you're working away from your tax home I'd strongly recommend getting clarification from your employer about how they're reporting this on your W-2. With $200/day for 6 months, you're looking at around $36,000 in stipends, so getting the tax treatment right is really important. Don't wait until tax time to figure this out!