Temporary Tax Break for Restaurants and Businesses
Article Highlights:
- New Business Tax Break
- Restaurant Purchased Meals
- Qualifying Restaurants
- Take-out Meals
- Lavish Limitations
- Taxpayer Presence
- Substantiation
Congress has provided businesses with a temporary tax break as a means of helping the restaurant industry, which has been devastated by the COVID pandemic.
Although the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the business deduction for entertainment, it continued to allow a deduction for 50% of the cost of qualified business meals.
As part of its COVID relief efforts Congress is allowing businesses to deduct 100% of business meals during 2021 and 2022, provided the meals are provided by a restaurant.
Recent guidance from the IRS (Notice 2021–25) defines the term restaurant to mean a business that prepares and sells food or beverages to retail customers for immediate consumption, regardless of whether the food or beverages are consumed on the business’s premises. However, a restaurant does not include a business that primarily sells pre-packaged food or beverages not for immediate consumption, such as a grocery store; specialty food store; beer, wine, or liquor store; drug store; convenience store; newsstand; or a vending machine or kiosk.
In addition, an employer may not treat as a restaurant any eating facility located on the business premises of the employer and used in furnishing meals excluded from an employee’s gross income under IRC Sec 119, or any employer-operated eating facility treated as a de minimis fringe benefit even if such eating facility is operated by a third party under contract with the employer.
See the Full Article Here: https://relaxtax.com/blogs/insights/temporary-tax-break-for-restaurants-and-businesses
