One of the common tax deductions for businesses is meals. These costs are incurred, for example, while having breakfast with a client to discuss a pending case, lunch with a potential client, or dinner while traveling away from home for business to attend a continuing education conference. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated any deduction for entertainment costs after Dec. 31, 2017, while leaving the deduction for business meals. However, that law changed the allowable amount that may be deducted for certain meal costs. Final regulations (T.D. 9925, 9/29/20) clarify the current rules for deducting business meals. The final regulations are only slightly modified from proposed regulations issued in February 2020 (REG-100814-19).

Overview

Final regulations define meal costs to mean the cost of food and/or beverages, including any delivery fees, tips, and sales tax. Indirect expenses, such as the cost of travel to a meal, are not part of the definition of meal costs under the regulations.