It is my understanding that meals and incidental expenses are for unreimbursed business expenses incurred during travel away from home. (biggerpockets.com)
TCJA repealed all miscellaneous deductions, which included unreimbursed business expenses, tax preparation fees, union dues, and investment advisory expenses. (rodgers-associates.com)
This is especially true for workers with non-trivial amounts of unreimbursed business expenses (although the amount of a worker's unreimbursed expenses may decline if the worker is classified as an employee because California Labor Code 2802 generally requires employers to reimburse significant business expenses of employees). (surlysubgroup.com)