Is this Meal Deductible?
You’re across town, an hour from your office. Just left a client meeting, grabbing a bite, then heading through traffic to check on a custom order. Tax deductible meal, right?
It depends.
Did you take your client to that lunch so you could continue the conversation? Did you meet an employee or a colleague to discuss business over tacos? Did you pick up a to-go order to share with your designer at the next stop?
Yes? Ding! Tax deductible.
Or were you famished, exhausted, on the verge of heatstroke, and just needed a burger and soda to get you through the rest of your day. Drove through and ate in the car in the peace and quiet. Maybe just needed an afternoon latte pick-me-up?
Yes? Buzz. Not deductible.
Those little, under $15 fast food and coffee stops on your business books would be a big red flag in an audit.
Unless you’re so far away from home that you have to stay overnight, little pick-me-up meals/coffees are considered personal expenses by the IRS. Right—like you should have packed a PB&J, apple and canned oat milk latte in your old Star Wars lunch box. We hear you. But an auditor, not so much.
Best tax strategy?
Make it a deductible work expense. Share the meal with a business colleague you haven’t seen in a while who happens to work in that part of town. Or set a lunch date with someone you admire (business admiration, please) and offer a nice meal in exchange for a little time to discuss how they got where you would like to be. Pick up lattes for the whole staff and be the hero of the day.
You don’t even have to pay for your colleague’s meal in order for your portion to be tax deductible. (Though you probably won’t be considered such a hero…)
Be sure to make notes on your restaurant/coffee receipt, to make sure it would be allowable in an audit. Note what business-related colleague was with you, and what business was discussed. The IRS requires this discussion to constitute a large portion of your conversation to be deductible. So writing off professional baseball game tickets because you discussed business for a few minutes over a hotdog likely won’t cut it. Well, maybe the hotdog purchase. Just be sure you’ve set the entire business world straight over those five, maybe ten minutes. Or at least discussed a job.
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