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(2000); 41 C.F.R. sec. 301-11.17 (2002). None of the vessels on
which petitioner worked were common carriers, and he did not
receive meals from a hotel or motel. Additionally, the Federal
Travel Regulations require that a Federal employee’s M&IE rate be
adjusted for meals provided by the Government by deducting
appropriate amounts for each meal provided. Johnson v.
Commissioner, supra at 227-228; Federal Travel Regulations, 41
C.F.R. sec. 301-11.18 (2000); 41 C.F.R. sec. 301-11.18 (2002).
Because, as petitioners acknowledge, the revenue procedures
regarding M&IE rate deductions for non-Government employees are
to be applied according to the Federal Travel Regulations for
Federal employees, the regulations require that petitioner
decrease the M&IE rate deduction otherwise allowable to account
for meals provided by petitioner’s employers.
Petitioners also argue that this issue is novel to the
Court. We disagree. In Johnson v. Commissioner, supra, the
taxpayer, also a merchant seaman, deducted the full Federal M&IE
rates on his return, even though all of his meals were provided
to him free of charge by his employer. We held that, because the
taxpayer’s actual expenses consisted solely of incidental
expenses, his use of the M&IE rates to calculate his deductions
for business expenses due to travel away from home was limited to
the incidental portion of those rates. Id. at 210-211. The
taxpayer in that case established that he had incurred incidental
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