115 T.C. No. 16
UNITED STATES TAX COURT
MARIN I. AND ANITA J. JOHNSON, Petitioners v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Docket No. 5114-98. Filed September 15, 2000.
P is a merchant seaman who captains a vessel that
sails worldwide carrying equipment of the U.S.
military. The vessel sails infrequently in the general
vicinity of P’s residence, which also is not near the
office of P’s employer. P’s employer furnishes him
with lodging and meals without charge while he works on
the vessel, but P pays for his other (incidental)
travel expenses. P reported his incidental travel
expenses as miscellaneous itemized deductions for 1994
and 1996, ascertaining the amounts of those deductions
by using the full Federal per diem rates for meal and
incidental expense (M&IE rates). The M&IE rates are
referenced in Rev. Proc. 96-28, 1996-1 C.B. 686, and
its progenitors, which provide that an employee, in
lieu of substantiating his or her actual travel
expenses, may use the M&IE rates to compute the cost of
meal and incidental expenses paid while working away
from home. See, e.g., id. sec. 4.03, 1996-1 C.B. at
688. P has no receipts for his incidental travel
expenses.
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