Tax deductions
Business Meals Deduction: What's 50%, What's 100%, and What's Gone
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the business entertainment deduction entirely. Business meals are still 50% deductible — when there's a genuine business purpose and documentation. Here's what qualifies and what doesn't.
Written by Matt Reese, CPA · 5 min read · Published April 2026·Share on LinkedIn
Key Takeaways
- Entertainment expenses (tickets, golf, concerts, sporting events) are no longer deductible at all. The TCJA 2017 eliminated the deduction permanently.
- Business meals are 50% deductible when there's a genuine business purpose, business is discussed, and you keep the receipt with documentation of who was there and why.
- Employee meals and the company holiday party can be 100% deductible under specific conditions — but the rules are narrow and tightening.
- The five documentation requirements (amount, time/place, business purpose, business relationship, who attended) must all be present to defend a meal deduction.
What changed in 2017 — and what didn’t
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made a clean distinction that many business owners still don’t know about: entertainment was eliminated as a deductible expense, while business meals were preserved at 50%.
Before 2017, entertainment expenses (tickets, golf, sporting events, concerts, clubs) were 50% deductible as long as there was a business purpose. That’s gone. No phase-out, no exception — entertainment is simply not deductible, period.
Business meals survived, but they require more documentation than before to distinguish them from entertainment or personal dining.
The client dinner is still 50% deductible. The client’s tickets to that same event are not deductible at all.
What’s deductible, what’s not, and at what percentage
| Type of expense | Deductible? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Business meal with client / prospect / advisor | 50% | Requires business discussion and documentation |
| Meal while traveling overnight for business | 50% | Solo business travel meals qualify |
| Working lunch with employee or co-owner | 50% | Must document business purpose |
| Food at employer-provided cafeteria / on-site meals | 50% | Dropping to 0% after 2025 under current law |
| Company holiday party for all employees | 100% | Must primarily benefit employees |
| Employee picnic / occasional social event | 100% | Occasional only; primarily for employees |
| Office snacks and coffee (available to all employees) | 50% | Treated as de minimis fringe |
| Entertainment tickets (sports, concerts, theater) | 0% | Eliminated by TCJA 2017 |
| Golf rounds with clients | 0% | Entertainment — eliminated |
| Country club / athletic club dues | 0% | Even with business purpose |
| Meals at entertainment events (separately stated) | 50% | Only if billed separately from entertainment |
| Spouse / family meals (non-business) | 0% | Personal — not deductible |
| Lavish or extravagant meals | Partially | 'Ordinary and necessary' standard; IRS scrutinizes excess |
The five documentation requirements
The IRS requires documentation for every meal deduction. The receipt alone isn’t enough. You need five elements to fully substantiate a meal:
- Amount: The cost of the meal (the receipt covers this)
- Time and place: Date and name/location of the restaurant (the receipt usually covers this)
- Business purpose: What business was discussed or the business relationship established
- Business relationship: Names of the people present and their title or company
- Your role: Why you were there in a business capacity
In practice, this means writing on the back of the receipt (or in your expense tracking app): who was there, what you discussed, and what the business connection was. “Lunch with John Smith, VP at Acme Corp, discussed Q2 contract renewal” is sufficient. “Client lunch” is not.
Receipt + note = solid documentation
The “associated with” exception for entertainment meals
One narrow exception survived TCJA: if food and beverages are provided at an entertainment event but are separately stated from the entertainment cost on the invoice, the meal portion may still be 50% deductible.
If a sports venue separately bills $200 for tickets and $85 for food, the $85 may be deductible. If the ticket price includes access to a club lounge with food and there’s a single invoice, the IRS position is that the food is not separately identifiable and nothing is deductible.
Meal deductions aren't enormous for most owners — the real value is accuracy, not maximizing. Deducting every expense that genuinely qualifies, documented correctly, is worth a few hundred dollars and keeps you clean. Overclaiming undocumented meals is an audit risk out of proportion to the potential savings.
Employer meals and the 2025 cliff
Employer-provided meals on business premises — food at the company cafeteria, working lunches for employees, snacks available to the whole team — were deductible at 100% before 2017, reduced to 50% by TCJA, and are scheduled to drop to 0% beginning in 2026 under current law (unless Congress extends the provision).
If you have employees and routinely provide office food, talk to your CPA about the 2026 change before budgeting for it.
Company holiday parties remain 100% deductible — with conditions
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Frequently asked
Questions owners actually ask
- Can I deduct taking a client to a baseball game?
- No. The TCJA eliminated the entertainment deduction in 2017, and it has not been restored. Tickets to sporting events, concerts, theater, golf, and any other form of entertainment are not deductible — regardless of the business relationship or discussions that occur. The meal you eat at the game may be deductible if it's separately itemized and documented, but the tickets themselves are not.
- What about a 'working lunch' at my desk alone?
- A meal you eat by yourself while working is generally not deductible. The IRS requires a business purpose that involves another party — a client, prospect, employee, or business associate — to claim a meal deduction. Solo meals while traveling for business on overnight trips are the main exception: those are 50% deductible.
- Can I deduct a meal with my business partner or co-founder?
- Yes, if you discuss business. Meals with co-owners, partners, and employees qualify under the same standard as client meals — there must be a business purpose beyond general goodwill. 'We talked about the business' is usually enough, but the documentation should reflect what was actually discussed.
- What's the difference between a business meal and entertainment?
- Entertainment is any activity primarily for amusement or recreation — tickets, golf, club memberships, show tickets. These are not deductible. A business meal is food and beverages consumed during or around a business discussion — these are 50% deductible. The IRS sometimes blurs this line when meals occur at entertainment events. The safest approach: separate the food invoice from the entertainment cost if possible.
- Are meals provided to employees in the office deductible?
- Employer-provided meals on business premises are 50% deductible (reduced from 100% after 2017, and scheduled to drop to 0% after 2025 under TCJA). The company holiday party and occasional employee social events are still 100% deductible, but they must primarily benefit employees — not clients.
Take the next step
Turn tax questions into a plan. Talk with Matt or see how we work with operating business owners.
Educational content only.This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute tax, legal, or investment advice. Every owner’s facts are different; consult a qualified CPA and advisor before acting. Tax and accounting services are provided through Matt Reese, CPA; investment advisory services are provided through Measured Risk Portfolios, a registered investment adviser. Matt Reese, CPA and Measured Risk Portfolios are separate entities; clients are not required to engage both.