Reimbursement means that a taxpayer's employer
covered an expense that was originally paid for by the taxpayer.
Reimbursed expenses are not tax deductible.
Per diem is a form of
reimbursement. An employer that pays per diem via an
accountable plan
is reimbursing the crewmember for their
meals and
incidental
expenses while on
work-related travel.
The reason the
per diem deduction
generates an increased tax refund for flight crewmembers is because the per diem
from an employer almost never exceeds the crewmember's
M&IE expenses when using
the city-by-city
CONUS and
OCONUS
per diem rates that
can be used in lieu of
actual
meals costs incurred by a flight crewmember. In other words, because
the reimbursement (per diem from the employer) is less that the expense (M&IE
per diem deduction), a tax write off for meals and incidental expenses is
allowed.
These can simply be calculated via the
EZPERDIEM.COM Per Diem Calculator
TM.
