Business meal expenses: deduction and reimbursement

Meal expenses are one of the professional expenses that can be covered by the employer in certain cases, or declared as actual expenses to the tax authorities.

Also known as food or catering costs, they are the second most common business expense, just behind transport costs.

But under what conditions are they covered, and for how much?

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Meal expenses: definition

Are you employed or self-employed? Meal expenses are considered to be business expenses if you are obliged to eat away from home in the course of your duties and in the interests of your company.

For example, these may include meals purchased :

• during work away from home,
• during on-call duty
• during business travel, during an event or a business trip, etc.

They may be :

• reimbursed by the employer up to a certain limit ;
• or deducted from the income tax return as actual expenses if they constitute additional expenses incurred in the course of professional duties.

Meal expenses 2021: ceilings

The ceilings defined by Urssaf, which must not be exceeded for exemption from social security contributions, are not the same for all constraints. They depend on the need to buy a meal in a restaurant or company canteen, for example:

• 19.10 for a meal in a restaurant during a business trip when you are unable to eat at home;
• 9.40 for a meal outside the company premises, during a business trip or on a worksite, where working conditions make it impossible to go home to eat, without having to go to the restaurant;
• 6.70 for a meal in the canteen, when the employee is obliged to eat on company premises.

How do you calculate actual meal expenses that are deductible from your income?

In principle, the cost of food is a personal expense, not a business expense.

The tax-deductible amount therefore relates to additional expenses compared with a meal eaten at home, not borne by the employer.

The difference between :

• the flat-rate amount determined by the authorities each year (the value of a meal eaten at home),
• and the cost of the meal,
• excluding luncheon vouchers,
• within the limit of the exemption ceiling for meal allowances (see above).

Conditions to be met

According to Service-public.fr, meal expenses must meet 3 conditions to be tax deductible:

• be necessary for the exercise of the profession (e.g. a business trip or a business meal) ;
• be justified by the distance between the place of work and the home;
• be supported by documentary evidence, such as an invoice.

How do you determine the acceptable distance? In the event of an inspection, the authorities will take into account :

• the density of the conurbation
• the nature of the profession
• the location of customers,
• working hours.

Example 1

• An employee is obliged to go to a restaurant during a business trip;
• the lump sum representing the value of a meal taken at home is set at €4.95 (in 2021);
• the flat-rate allowance for restaurant meal expenses is set at €19.10;
• the maximum amount deductible for meal expenses per day is therefore €14.15 (19.10-4.95);
• if the employee spends €12, the calculation is 12 - 4.95 = €7.07 in meal expenses, which can be deducted from actual tax-deductible expenses.

Example 2

• An employee is obliged to eat at the company canteen because of his shifts;
• he has luncheon vouchers worth 8 euros, 4 euros of which are funded by the employer, but these are not enough to cover the costs ;
• a meal tray is offered at €11;
• the flat-rate meal allowance is set at €6.70 for meals taken in the cafeteria;
• 11-4 = 7; 7 being greater than a home meal, you can claim €7-4.95, i.e. €2.05 in actual expenses per meal.

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Conditions for reimbursement of meal expenses by the employer

All employees may be entitled to a meal allowance if they meet the following conditions:

• are obliged to eat at work ;
• they do not have access to a canteen or sufficient break time to take their meal home.

In this case, the contract provides for a packed lunch bonus. This is compensation in the form of a lump-sum allowance.

In exceptional cases (inviting a client to a restaurant, catering during a seminar or training course), the employee may also request reimbursement of meal expenses from the company, on presentation of an expense claim and supporting documents.

This compensation is exempt from social security contributions up to the ceiling set by Urssaf.

That's why some companies set their own maximum reimbursement amounts, set out in the company agreement or contract.

Greedy people are free to spend more, but at their own expense!