Business Meals – Deductible?
Business Meals: What Counts — and What Doesn’t.
Business meals can be deductible — when there’s a real business purpose and documentation to support it.
🥱Let’s make it simple:
For 2025, most business meals remain 50% deductible, including meals where business is discussed, meals while traveling for business, and food for meetings/conferences, but this changes significantly in 2026 when employer-provided, on-premises meals become 0% deductible, a change brought by the late-2025 “One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB),” with exceptions (ex-restaurant owners employee meals) – requiring careful planning.
Meals that may count as business deductions
• Discussing business with a client or prospect
• Meeting a subcontractor or professional advisor to plan work
• Networking with a direct business purpose
• Meals while traveling for business
🧏♂️What matters:
The conversation relates to your business — not just socializing.
Meals that do not count
• Personal meals with friends or family
• Meals where business is not actually discussed
• Meals during vacation without a business reason
• Every day lunch while working at home
Documentation you should keep
• Date
• Amount
• Location
• Who was present
• Purpose of the meeting
A short note in your calendar (or even on the actual receipt) or accounting software is usually enough — Keep the documentation and receipt.
Simple documentation supports the deduction.
🧍♂️Bottom line
Business meals can be a legitimate deduction when used correctly.
It’s about intent + documentation, not labels.
Those office meals and office parties – talk to your tax pro because the rules are always changing.
👉If you want support preparing your records before filing opens later this month, I’m here to guide you.
Big care for small businesses and families.