Can you write off meals that you eat out while working?

Question

My husband teaches night classes in surrounding cities and when he is on his way home (usually after 10 PM), he often picks up dinner. I would like to know if these expenses can be written off of my taxes. Please include advisement as to how you know this to be acceptable or not.

Answer 1

Based on your information NO those meals are not deductible on the Federal Tax return


Meal expenses are deductible only if your trip is overnight or long enough that you need to stop for sleep or rest to properly perform your duties. The amount of the meal expenses must be substantiated, but instead of keeping records of the actual cost of your meal expenses you can generally use a standard meal allowance. The amount allowed varies, depending on where and when you travel. Refer to Publication 1542, Per Diem Rates (For Travel Within the Continental United States), for per diem rates.

Publication 463
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p463/index.html

Answer 2

No, If he were meeting with students, maybe-but even that would be difficult to pull off.
I work a full time job. My co-workers and I often go out together for lunch. It's not for business purposes per say. It's just lunch-no deduction.
I also am a part-time instructor at a community college. I drive directly from one to the other. Years ago, the IRS use to allow deduction of lunch expense between jobs. They no longer do so.

Even if the meals were deductible, they are subject to the 2% of agi amount.

Answer 3

Meat meal is preferable over meat since it is the meat with the moisture removed. By weight it contains more meat then "meat".Anything containing meat meal actually contains more meat then a food taht simply has "meat". Canidae has a named meat source as the first 2-4 ingredients...it is high in meats which dogs need and low in grains which dogs don't need..Purina ONE is low in meats and high in grains. In otherwords Purina ONE is a food full of grains...it also contains corn and animal fat. Fat in a dog food should be a named fat such as poultry and not some generic listing. Meat meals do NOT contain fillers. Purina ONE is cheap to make compared to Canidae.

Answer 4

But they're not even an expense for the class.

Can I write off the breakfast I ate on the way to a client? How about the money spent on my clothes?

Answer 5

No, sorry, those are not deductible. It's a personal expense. Personal expenses are not deductible. You can't deduct meals any more than you could deduct a new belt of pair of shoes.

Answer 6

The meals are not during his work hours, so even if he was self-employed, he couldn't deduct them.

Answer 7

not for him and not for you.