Default Style Register
Daycare.com Forum
Daycare and Taxes>Provider Food Expense
Unregistered 07:00 AM 01-23-2012
Can meals be claimed that i pay for myself when at a conference, training, or our child care association meeting?
Reply
TomCopeland 10:02 AM 01-23-2012
You can only deduct food for yourself when you are on a business trip and stay overnight away from home. When you do this, you can deduct 50% of the cost of the food you eat, or claim a standard rate of $46 a day (divided by 2). This rate is higher in larger towns. See IRS publication 1545 for details.

Join me for my "2011 Family Child Care Tax Update: How to Reduce Your Taxes" webinar on February 9th, 8:30-10:00pm Eastern time. For details:http://events.r20.constantcontact.co...&llr=yatrx4cab
Reply
wdmmom 11:02 AM 01-23-2012
Does this mean that any lunches purchased for my assistant aren't tax deductible either?
Reply
TomCopeland 01:34 PM 01-23-2012
Originally Posted by wdmmom:
Does this mean that any lunches purchased for my assistant aren't tax deductible either?
You can deduct the cost of the lunch (or snacks) served to your assistant. Use the standard meal allowance rate for these meals and snacks, unless you want to safe receipts and estimate the actual cost of the food served.
Reply
wdmmom 12:42 PM 01-24-2012
Originally Posted by TomCopeland:
You can deduct the cost of the lunch (or snacks) served to your assistant. Use the standard meal allowance rate for these meals and snacks, unless you want to safe receipts and estimate the actual cost of the food served.
What about fast food lunches? You can only deduct the standard meal allowance not the face value?
Reply
TomCopeland 03:19 PM 01-25-2012
Originally Posted by wdmmom:
What about fast food lunches? You can only deduct the standard meal allowance not the face value?
You either use the standard meal allowance rule for all your meals and snacks or the actual food cost for all meals and snacks. Therefore, when using the standard meal allowance rule, a fast food lunch is still only deductible at $2.22 a meal.
Reply
Tags:deduction - food, expenses, tom copeland
Reply Up