Where to enter business meal expense for 2021?

[nwc]

Business meals are 100% deductible for 2021.  Turbo Tax has not been updated to reflect this change.  Instead it continues to list travel meals at 50% and indicate that local meals are limited to Day Care or Restaurant employee meals.  Will TT fix this and if not is it advisable to "force" local business meals into the Day Care exception to be certain they are deducted at 100%?

[DaveF1006]

Perhaps you have made an erroneous entry in Turbo Tax. If you are using Turbo Tax Self-Employed, fully deductible meals include.

• Company parties
• Food made available to the public for free
• Meals for children at daycare facility
• For tax years 2021 and 2022, business meals if food and beverages were purchased at a restaurant.
• Other meals 100% limit expenses.

Also check to see if you selected the right check box in meals. This is what it should look like and how you make the selection for 100%.

[nwc · Accepted solution]

I am using Turbo Tax Home and Business.  Under the Business tab -- Business Expenses -- Other Common Business Expenses -- Meals this is what's available:

   Meals: 50% Limit (Meals while traveling for business)

   Meals: 100% limit - Meals for children at daycare facility or meals provided by a restaurant 

I now see that the 2nd option is not limited to day care or restaurant employees but includes all meals at a restaurant.  So that's the place to enter local business meals.  Sorry for the confusion.

Appreciate the response.

[Affordabletaxes2021]

Local business meals are 50% deductible . Being served in a restaurant does not make it a100% deduction. It’s a 50% deduction for business meals. 

[jennfs62]

I am using TurboTax Home and Business 2021, as an independent contractor, and it also only has the choice of meals for travel and meals for daycare.  I recommend the company fix this, it is totally unclear.  Just wasted over an hour of my day looking for the correct place to enter business meals. 

[DaveF1006]

I think I feel your frustration but I do have a solution. Select Meals 50% limit, Meals while travelling for Business. 100% limits are only for Meals provided at daycare facilities.

@jennfs62

[DhDurham]

Should I enter these meals individually or add one total? We buy breakfast burritos and body armor (drinks) for the crew, daily.

[KrisD15]

Business expenses do not need to be itemized on a tax return. the total amount for each category is entered. 

Your business should also be keeping books which DO show each itemized expense. 

[DhDurham]

Thank you,  yes we have detailed books. This is our first year so I was unsure on how to enter the total. 

[easyxpress]

I got confused by this also:

The software says this:

Meals

Meals while traveling

From the surface, this is the place for travel meal only, and there is no other place to enter non-travel meal. So I hope TurboTax can change the wordings to something similar:

Meals

Include meals while traveling

This should fix this confusion.