Business Meal Deduction Calculator

About this calculator

Business owners, freelancers, and sales professionals who take clients or colleagues out to eat can typically write off a portion of that business meal expense as a tax deduction, as long as the meal has a genuine business purpose — discussing a deal, meeting a client, or traveling for work. Tax law generally allows only a percentage of the qualifying bill to be deducted, not the full amount, and that percentage can differ from ordinary office snacks or entertainment-only outings that don't qualify at all.

This calculator applies that deductible percentage to your meal cost so you can see the actual write-off in dollars, separate from the amount you spent out of pocket. It's a quick sanity check for freelancers, small business owners, and anyone doing their own bookkeeping before handing receipts to an accountant — useful for estimating quarterly tax savings or simply understanding how much of a client lunch the business is really absorbing.