Employee meals are considered a taxable benefit. If you paid the employee more to cover the cost of the formerly free meal, the employee would be liable for taxes on it.
Where I start to get a little exercised is when the IRS starts threatening to tax my portion of business lunch paid for by my company. That’s only the beginning.
After that, they’ll want us to report the names and tax ID/SSN of each individual at the table, how much the cost of the meal was, and who ate and drank what.
Actually, this fits right in to the government keeping track of what you eat and drink.
It WILL be a nightmare.
The cost of compliance with this rule is easily more than the cost of the meal. So what they are really doing is telling companies you cannot provide meals to your employees. Not for Christmas parties, team events, or to reward them for working lunches.
So my son travels. He gets a 30 meal reimbursment. So he pays for his meal with his post tax dollars and gets TAXED on the reimbursement?