Residential rental property and IRS meal deductions

[Valerie Hamilton]

Hi,  I have a general tax question.  I am a long time real estate investor, mostly in my local area.  I recently purchased a property out of state in a university city for student rentals.  I stress that according to the IRS, I'm an investor, as I cannot hit the 750 hrs needed to consider it an trade or business, but I actively participate in the rental activities.  In discussing the deductible expenses with my CPA, I mentioned having records for travel related to repairs I performed at the property, plus my meal receipts (the trips were entirely business related).  She said while the travel (airfare, car rental) is deductible, the meals (at 50%) are not.  There is no differentiation of travel expenses in Pub 527, and although Pub 463 discusses expenses as "business" expenses, it adds no clarity to this for me.  So can anyone tell me if this is a passive activity why I can deduct on type of travel expense but not the other? or should I be getting a second opinion?  BTW, many websites and NOLO do mntion meals as 50% deductible.