Originally Posted by Unregistered:
You don't lose a tax deduction by joining the Food Program. Your food deduction does not change once you join the Food Program. That is, you can still deduct food using the standard meal allowance rate (or calculate your actual food expenses) whether or not you are on the Food Program. Therefore, you will always have more money (even after paying taxes on the reimbursements) when you join the Food Program.
That's right you don't lose the deduction but you have to claim the Food Program reimbursement amount as income and for me I'd rather get reimbursed at the end of the year (tax deduction) rather than have to go through the trouble and negligence of the Food Program regulations and it's staff. They are constantly losing my paperwork, snooping through places that have no food
, offer no training other than a folder with some papers in it and when you mess up (well duh if I'd have known that before I wouldn't have done it that way) and getting mixed information from each person I make contact with. I finally got the hang of it with one worker and then they changed my representative and that one said that pretty much everything that the other lady told me was wrong and I finally just gave up.
I did however sign up for Minute Menu Pro because I loved it!! We had it included (and didn't pay for it) with the food program but it was just so awsome that when I dropped the food program I had to sign up for it. For a $70 initial first year sign-up fee and only $40 to renew each year you can't go wrong. I do EVERYTHING on that program.