Tax Write Off: Home-Based Business Meals
If you’re running a home-based business and eat your lunch at home most of the time, you may neglect writing off meals thinking “it’s just groceries we’d be buying anyway”. You should keep all your grocery/dining out receipts for the year, and then add a pro-rated amount of meals to your tax return. I didn’t do it in the past either, but for 2007 tax year I’ll be sure to include 1/3 of our grocery bills to our expenses. My 1/3 number is based on “breakfast, lunch and dinner”. Then of course that 1/3 will be further reduced by 50% because you can only write off half the meals (on a Canadian return, anyway).
That is sweet! I always eat in while I’m working on my biz – so great to know. Thanks!
Hi Kristy,
just FYI, I called Revenue Canada about this, and you can’t write off groceries unless you get a special ruling from them.
I thought that it was very unfair. Let’s say you work at home, but go out to eat lunch – the cost of that lunch is tax deductible. But if you stay in at home and have lunch, you can’t deduct that money.
It’s unfair, but I can see how people might try writing off all sorts of grocery bills and claim it was for business. So I requested a special ruling/exception. Waiting to get a letter from them.