If you’ve formed certain habits related to how you handle meals, entertainment, transportation, and parking as it relates to your business and taxes, the time to change those habits has come.

As this report notes, tax reform law commonly referred to as H.R. 1 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 has changed the deductibility of certain meals, entertainment and transportation expenses. Before 2018, a taxpayer could deduct 50 percent of business meals and entertainment and 100 percent of meals provided through an in-house cafeteria or meals provided for the convenience of the employer (i.e., also known as a de minimis fringe benefit). Read More

Eating out can take several different forms:

  1. Taking clients out for meals
  2. Buying refreshments for yourself
  3. Meeting clients/contacts for coffee
  4. Taking you staff out for meals/down the pub

Unfortunately slightly different tax rules apply to each.

Buying Refreshments For Yourself

The rule here is that if the food/drink is associated with travel then it is allowable. So, if you travel to London and stay the night in a hotel for the purposes of business, your evening meal is subsistence and so is a deductible expense. Read More