Question

Self employed tax deduction - groceries

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
August 21, 2023
2 replies
0 views

I'm a self employed freelancer that requires me to purchase groceries/food to complete my job, can I deduct 100% of these expenses for my tax?

Deduction

DoninGA

Employee

Are the groceries/food you purchase Only used for the service you provide to your clients and not for your own personal consumption?

W

wennmwAuthor

There is some overlapping where I use it for my own consumption and using it to expand my business as well

DoninGA

Employee

Then you can only use a percentage of the cost you paid as a self-employment expense relative to the service you provide. The percentage of the cost you use for your own consumption would not be a SE expense.

O

Opus 17

Employee

I think we really don't know what's going on here, you would need a lot more specifics.

For example, if you are entertaining to try to acquire or maintain your clients, there is one set of rules. If you are asking about meals on the job since you are away from home, there is a different set of rules. If you are purchasing food items that will be used as inventory, or used to make other products that you sell, there is a third set of rules.

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wennmwAuthor

No problem - i'm a freelance content creator that creates food content such as recipe videos for my clients

O

Opus 17

Employee

@wennmw wrote:

No problem - i'm a freelance content creator that creates food content such as recipe videos for my clients

You can deduct expenses that are "ordinary and necessary" in your type of business. If you are creating recipes, researching different combinations of ingredients, and making videos about the recipes, then the raw food items are certainly ordinary and necessary expenses for that type of work.

However, there is a very real issue that comes from converting business property to personal use. As a simple example, if you owned a toy store, and sometimes took toys home for your family, the cost of those items could not legally be included as a deductible cost for acquiring inventory.

So if you deduct groceries as a business expense, make your test recipes and videos, and then feed your family with the meals, you have converted an otherwise legitimate expense into an impermissible personal expense (you can't take a tax deduction for personal meals). It would be better to keep the two things separate. Or if you make a recipe 4-5 times for practice or research or different camera angles, and only serve the last meal to your family, you might allocate the cost accordingly. If you could buy your supplies on personal vs business credit card, that would make things even more clear, but a detailed diary might be enough. It could be viewed as an audit risk, since you can't take tax deductions for personal expenses.

It can be complicated, and you might want to seek a more professional opinion.