Hop on our YouTube channel for today’s post about the new IRS tax regulations, based on an article in The Tax Adviser. Here are the basics:
Not too long ago the IRS released final regulations on meals and entertainment expenses. Their deductibility was changed in the tax cut and Jobs Act passed back in 2018, and we’re just now getting final regulations. If you’ve been in business for a while you know meals and entertainment have always been thrown in one bucket and just simply divided by two. Meals and entertainment had been a hot button issue for many years, and because it was getting too difficult, the old regulations simplified it. But now we’re going back to a more complex method.
Regulations call for a separation of meals from entertainment, and that entertainment deductibility must meet some pretty strict guidelines. Meals have to be broken up in a couple of different categories as well. There can be internal meals that you do for training purposes, and then there are business meals that you have with a client. There are all kinds of regulations about that, so it’s a new ball game! We’ve known this was coming for a long time, but now we actually have the final regulations to go by, so in certain circumstances you might need to amend your ’18 or ’19 returns, or at least account for things differently before you wrap up 2020.
If we can help you that in any way let us know! We’re here to help at Harvard Grace.