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Here are the details. In March 2000 I was called by Company A which had just acquired a contract to perform analytical testing for Company B. Company A operated a mobile laboratory and hired me as an independent contractor to do their analytical testing on site for their client, Company B. I worked until January 2001 for Company A, at which time Company A sold their mobile lab to Company C. I had to do some negotiating with Company C to convince them to continue to use me as an independent contractor instead of using one of their own full time analysts, which they agreed to do, and the work continued basically uninterrupted. The nature of the work changed somewhat due to different quality control and other operating procedures required by Company C, but I continued operating the mobile laboratory at the same location until December of 2001, at which time the job ended for the mobile lab services required by Company B. Then there was a break of several weeks at the end of the year and I went home. Then Company B decided to hire me as an independent contractor to train their personnel to do what I had been doing as the operator of the mobile lab for the previous 18 months. This training and consulting work with Company B in their own laboratory lasted until March 20 of 2002.
This was all out of town work nearly 600 miles from my home and I paid lodging expenses in addition to keeping my residence the entire time. What is going to be allowed for the claim of lodging per diem?