My wife has a direct sales business where she sells food. She also has a monthly food expense of $500 for her own consumption of the food. Can she claim this on her taxes

[AnnetteB6]

Not directly.  If she has purchased ingredients for the food she sells, then removing some of those ingredients for her own consumption will have the effect of lowering her profit from her sales.  In that manner she is 'deducting' the costs of her own consumption already.

[sylvestre-r-marc]

Thank you for the explanation, but, I'm not tracking 100%.

She is spending money to purchase food.  The food she purchases directly she then consumes.   She does not profit form the food she purchases and consumes.  This food she purchases and consumes are her meals during the course of business operations.  

Her weight loss and associated story is her marketing tool.  She shares her story with other women.  Some woman decide to enroll in the program...  my wife does profit form the food that is purchased by these women.

[AnnetteB6]

Let me try a different way.  I was assuming that she made the food that was sold versus purchasing something ready-made.  

Also, with your additional explanation, I am assuming that she only receives a commission from other's purchases and she does not carry an inventory to sell directly to others.  If there is an inventory that is sold to others, then the scenario is more like my original answer, only there would be an entry for items removed from inventory for personal use to account for your wife's consumption of the product.  

The fact that the product being sold is pre-packaged meals becomes problematic for her being able to deduct the cost of the meals purchased for personal use only. 

If the meals were consumed in a business setting (think Tupperware party or similar) where your wife and others were present to taste them and decide to place an order, then both the meals she consumed personally and those purchased for others would be a business expense.  However, even if this were the case, the deduction may be limited to 50% of the cost because it is a meal expense.  

An argument could be made that your wife's consumption of the meals serves as advertising for her business, but this may not hold up to an IRS audit because it would still be deducting a personal expense as a business expense.

[edited 3/22/2025 | 7:18 am PST]

@sylvestre-r-marc 

[Opus 17]

Generally, personal expenses are not allowed as business expenses.  Business expenses are those expenses that are ordinary and necessary for that type of business.

If she was running a food truck, for example, and purchased raw materials with a business credit card, and diverted some of the ingredients to her home kitchen for personal use, that is absolutely not allowed as a business expense (that's embezzlement, even from yourself).   However, if she ate her own meals "on the job" (in between customers) that would probably be allowed under a couple of different theories.  

I'm unclear on the situation here.  I think I hear you saying that she purchases pre-packaged weight loss meals, and sells them to others, and also consumes the meals personally.  I can't see how the meals she personally consumes are deductible business expenses.  The owner of a business can sometimes deduct meals, for example, if they entertain a potential client with the goal of expanding the business and recruiting new customers and clients, that shared meal is sometimes allowable.  But I don't see how that applies here. 

[sylvestre-r-marc]

Her primary sales and marketing tool is her own weight loss story.  Her weight loss is attributed to consuming the food she purchases for the sole purpose of eating said food to re-enforce the story which is her primary means of sales and marketing.

None of the food she purchases directly for her consumption is for resale...  it is for her own consumption.  There is no inventory outside of her own WIP which is specifically for her own consumption.

She does make commission when another person signs up under her.... but she is not reselling inventory.  Those people who sign up get their food directly from the food vendor.