The Business Meals Deduction Is 50% on Schedule C Line 24b
Schedule C is the tax form you fill out for your business. You put business meals on line 24b, "Deductible meals," and in most cases you write off half the cost. That means a $60 lunch with a client gives you a $30 write-off.
These go on line 24b, "Deductible meals"
- Lunch or dinner with a client or customer
- Coffee with a possible new client
- A meal with a supplier, consultant, or other business contact
- Your meals on an overnight work trip
These do not go on line 24b
- Hotels and flights on a work trip Line 24a
- Food you sell or cook for customers Part III, "Cost of goods sold," on page 2
- Food gifts for clients, like a fruit basket Other expenses list, up to $25 a person
The "Other expenses" list is on page 2 of Schedule C, in Part V. Its total goes on line 27b.
These are not a write-off
- Tickets to a game, a show, or golf
- Your own lunch on a regular workday
Updated by Doug, owner of Shoeboxed. Rules from the IRS Schedule C instructions.
Why these food and travel costs do not go on line 24b
Line 24b on the 2026 Schedule C
This is the 2026 IRS Schedule C. Line 24b is boxed in blue. The other lines this page names are shaded blue.
Tickets to a game, a show, or a round of golf are not a write-off
Entertainment is not a write-off, even when you bring a client. Food at the event is different. If the food has its own bill, or its own line on the receipt, you can write off half of it.
Hotels and flights on a work trip go on line 24a
These go on line 24a, "Travel." Your meals on the trip go on line 24b at 50%. Instead of adding up every meal on a trip, you can use a set daily meal amount from the government, called the per diem rate. Still keep a note of where you went and why. Find the rate for your city on our per diem rates page.
Your own lunch on a regular workday is not a write-off
A meal you eat alone in your own town is a personal cost, even on a busy workday. The IRS lets you write off a meal when a client or other business contact is there, or when you travel overnight for work.
Food you sell or cook for customers goes in Part III, "Cost of goods sold"
If you run a restaurant, a food truck, or a catering business, the cost of the food you sell goes in Part III of Schedule C, called "Cost of goods sold." The 50% limit does not apply to it.
Food gifts for clients go under Other expenses, up to $25 a person
A fruit basket or a box of cookies you send a client counts as a gift. You can write off up to $25 a year in gifts to each person, on the "Other expenses" list. See where gifts go.
Meals you write off at 80% or 100%
Interstate truck drivers write off 80% of their meals while on duty. So do certain airline pilots and crews, and certain ship crews. These are the jobs with work-hour limits from the Department of Transportation.
A few meals count in full. Food you hand out free to the public to promote your business is one, like hot dogs at a grand opening. A holiday party or a summer picnic for your employees is another. Sometimes a client pays you back for a meal. If you give them your receipt and notes, it counts in full for you, and your client writes off half.
Employee meals at work are not a write-off starting in 2026
Starting in 2026, you can't write off meals you give employees at your workplace so they stay on site, like a company cafeteria. A holiday party or a summer picnic for your employees still counts in full.
Write who you ate with and what you talked about on each meal receipt
The IRS wants proof of the business purpose and the business relationship for each meal. On the receipt, write who you ate with, how they connect to your business, and what you talked about.
Then snap the receipt with the Shoeboxed app, so the note and the receipt stay together.
How much you write off on 5 common meal receipts
Say you run a small landscaping business. Here are five receipts from one month. The amounts are an example.
| The receipt | Cost | Where it goes on Schedule C |
|---|---|---|
| Lunch with a new client to plan their yard | $60 | Line 24b, write off $30 |
| Coffee with a supplier | $14 | Line 24b, write off $7 |
| Dinner alone on an overnight trip to a trade show | $40 | Line 24b, write off $20 |
| Your own lunch between jobs | $12 | Not a write-off |
| Baseball tickets with a client | $150 | Not a write-off |
Line 24b gets $57, which is half of the $114 you spent on the three business meals. The lunch you ate alone and the baseball tickets stay off Schedule C.
A fast-food meal with a client counts too, at 50%
McDonald's is the most common restaurant on meal receipts from Shoeboxed customers, ahead of Starbucks and Chick-fil-A. Of the 2,727 Shoeboxed customers with a meal receipt from November 2025 to October 2026, 672 had one from McDonald's.
All 10 of the restaurants with the most customers are quick places, where a typical receipt runs $10 to $21. Those receipts count when you eat with a client or other business contact, or when you travel overnight for work.
Shoeboxed meal receipts, November 2025 to October 2026
116,623
meal receipts
2,727
Shoeboxed customers who filed them
$37
for a typical receipt, where half cost more and half cost less
$16 to $83
half of all receipts cost between these two amounts
A typical meal receipt at each restaurant
The typical receipt at these 10 restaurants runs $10 to $21. Across all meal receipts, it is $37.
- Panera Bread $21
- Chipotle $19
- Chick-fil-A $18
- Panda Express $17
- Subway $16
- Starbucks $15
- Burger King $14
- Taco Bell $14
- Wendy's $13
- McDonald's $10
The 10 restaurants where the most Shoeboxed customers bought meals
| Restaurant | Customers | Receipts | Typical receipt | Half of receipts cost between |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McDonald's | 672 | 4,813 | $10 | $6 and $16 |
| Starbucks | 605 | 3,114 | $15 | $9 and $27 |
| Chick-fil-A | 527 | 2,622 | $18 | $11 and $31 |
| Subway | 323 | 1,046 | $16 | $11 and $25 |
| Chipotle | 309 | 1,060 | $19 | $14 and $30 |
| Wendy's | 286 | 895 | $13 | $9 and $23 |
| Burger King | 267 | 783 | $14 | $10 and $23 |
| Taco Bell | 256 | 911 | $14 | $10 and $21 |
| Panda Express | 225 | 687 | $17 | $12 and $32 |
| Panera Bread | 212 | 631 | $21 | $14 and $35 |
Half of a $10 lunch with a client is a $5 write-off. Snap the receipts from meals with a client or on a work trip, even the small ones.
The Shoeboxed category is called "Meals / Entertainment," so some of these receipts may be for entertainment, which is not a write-off.
Shoeboxed counted the receipts customers uploaded from November 1, 2025, to October 31, 2026, in the Meals / Entertainment category. We matched each restaurant by name. A customer counts once for each restaurant. "Typical receipt" is the median, where half cost more and half cost less. The table shows the 10 restaurants with the most customers, and each has 212 or more. The dollar figures use the 115,599 receipts with a total on them. Shoeboxed customers are mostly self-employed people and small businesses, so the list shows where they shop.
Keep each meal receipt for 3 years after you file
The IRS wants a record of each meal you write off, and in most cases you keep it for 3 years after you file. Meal receipts are small and easy to lose.
Snap each receipt with the Shoeboxed app right at the table, and forward the ones that come by email, like DoorDash and Uber Eats orders. Our software reads the restaurant, the date, and the total, and we keep the receipt for as long as you have an account.
Every Shoeboxed plan comes with a 30-day, 100% money-back guarantee. See the plans.
7 common questions about business meals on Schedule C
In most cases, you write off 50% of a business meal on Schedule C line 24b. The meal must be with a client or other business contact, or on an overnight work trip. You or your employee must be there. Interstate truck drivers write off 80%. Tickets and other entertainment are not a write-off.
Keep every receipt for your business in one place with Shoeboxed
Snap them with the app, forward the ones that come by email, or mail the paper ones to us in a Magic Envelope. We keep them all, ready for your accountant.
See how Shoeboxed keeps your receipts