Deductions for Dining Out

Champagne and caviar on the IRS? Typically, the answer is no. Nevertheless, there are times when you can go out to eat—perhaps to the best restaurant in town—and recoup some of your costs through tax savings.

Business as usual 

Perhaps the most obvious way to deduct dining costs is to buy a meal for someone with whom you do business or would like to do business. The good news is that everything counts: food, drinks, tax, and tip. The bad news? Meal costs typically are considered entertainment expenses, which generally have a 50% cap on deductions.

 Example 1: Nora Peters has dinner with a potential client for her landscaping business. They both have full-course meals with wine, and the tab comes to $100 with tax and tip. If Nora pays the bill, she can take a $50 tax deduction.
The IRS explicitly frowns on so-called “taking turns” deductions. Thus, if the potential client is Nora’s neighbor and they dine together every month, alternating as to who pays the bill, the IRS won’t allow either party to take tax deductions.
However, that may not always be the case.

Example 2: Nora and her neighbor dine together throughout the year, discussing possible ideas for the latter’s garden, and Nora picks up the tab every other time, paying a total of $600. Eventually, the neighbor hires Nora to landscape her garden; Nora ultimately earns $2,000 from that job, reported as taxable income. Can Nora take a $300 (50% of $600) tax deduction, despite the alternate bill paying? Our office can help you determine the answer to such difficult questions.

Beyond reasonable doubt

The IRS also asserts that meal outlays that are “lavish or extravagant” won’t qualify for a tax deduction. Unfortunately, the agency doesn’t provide a dollar limit or any tangible guideline, only that the cost must be “reasonable,” considering the “facts and circumstances.” 

Merely dining at a deluxe restaurant or a pricey resort won’t automatically rule out a 50% deduction.

 One way to approach this issue is to put things into perspective. In a major city with a steep cost of living, spending $100 on a dinner for two may not be considered lavish, if there’s a valid business purpose for the excursion. Conversely, spending hundreds of dollars on a meal with someone who has only a peripheral connection to your company and little chance of providing meaningful revenues in the future, might not pass muster.

One U.S. Commerce Department website provides an example of spending $200 for a business-related meal. If $110 of that amount is not allowable because it is lavish and extravagant, the remaining $90 is subject to the 50% limit. Thus, the tax deduction could be $45 (50% of $90).

Going solo

You should be aware that the 50% limit also applies to business meals away from home, not just to meals where you’re entertaining someone.

Example 3: Ron Sawyer travels from his Dallas home to Tucson on a sales trip. He does no entertaining but spends $140 eating his meals in restaurants. Ron’s meal deduction is $70 (50% of $140).

Filling out a foursome

Generally, you can’t claim a 50% deduction for buying your spouse a meal. There are exceptions, though, if including your spouse at the table serves a business purpose, rather than one that’s personal or social.

 Example 4: Tim Walker invites a customer to dinner. The customer is visiting from out of town, so the customer’s spouse is also invited because it is impractical to entertain the customer without the spouse. Tim can deduct 50% of the cost of the meal for the customer's spouse. What’s more, if Tim’s wife joins the group because the customer's spouse is present, the cost of the meal for Tim’s wife is also deductible.

Taking the deduction

For self-employed individuals and business owners, taking 50% deductions for business meals may be straightforward. For employees, though, those deductions might be harder to obtain. Unreimbursed expenses are included in miscellaneous itemized deductions, which are deductible only to the extent they exceed 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI).

Example 5: Lynn Knox, who is an employee, spends $500 on business meals in 2014 and is not reimbursed. When she prepares her tax return for the year, she includes $250 as a miscellaneous itemized deduction. Her AGI is $100,000, so her 2% threshold is $2,000. If Lynn’s miscellaneous deductions add up to $2,400, she is entitled to deduct the $400 excess. Without her business meals, Lynn’s miscellaneous deductions would have been only $2,150, generating a $150 deduction, so Lynn effectively gets a $250 deduction for her $500 of business meal expenses. If Lynn’s miscellaneous deductions were under $2,000, she would have no tax benefit from her business meals.

Meal Plans

·       In order to support a deduction for buying someone a meal, you must be present.

·       The purpose of the meal must be the active conduct of business, you must engage in business during the meal, and you must have more than a general expectation of getting income or some specific business benefit in the future; or the meal must be associated with the active conduct of business and come directly before or after a substantial business discussion.

·       You should keep a record of all these meal expenses. Note the “who, where, when, and how much” details along with an explanation of the business purpose of your mealtime conversation.

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