Accountant / Finance Peas, need some help / opinions

Feb 28, 2020 20:05:18 GMT SweetieBugs said:

I always struggle with the deductibility of certain meals and entertainment type charges. Can you weigh in on my thoughts:

--company pays for breakfast catering in the office as appreciation for completing a big project the week before (50%)

--staff person meets with a community business leader for coffee and supposedly discuss "business" of some kind (50%)

--company holds a spring staff party that is for employees only, offsite at a restaurant-electronic gaming venue. Does the deductiblity vary on this if it is framed with the expectation that staff will mingle with people they don't normally work with and determine if there are any synergies and cross business areas that could be achieved in working together? So, the expectation gives a business angle but I truly doubt that will be the outcome. Is this 50% or 100%. I think 50% but just want to check other opinions.

--company buys snacks, coffee and tea for kitchen area (to be consumed by staff) each month (I thought 100% but it sounds like there were recent tax code changes and this is now 50%)

--staff person meets with a Program client for lunch and the lunch cost is billed to the client (100% since the cost is passed on to a client and fully recovered).


This always seems to be a bit of a gray area and I really want to double check my thoughts. Thanks.

According to my handy-dandy chart given to me by our auditing firm, the only one that is 100% is the spring staff party- it qualifies under "company holiday parties and picnics for employees" No business needs to be discussed for this one.

Snacks are 50% until 2026 and then they are zero.

The lunch with cost billed to the client is not a deductible item, it's reimbursed to you, so it would sit in a suspense account.

All of your other items are still 50%