Meal costs: Tax deduction conditions and amount 2025

Meal costs are professional costs as soon as an employee or an self -employed worker is forced to take his meal outside his home. They can be reimbursed by the employer within the limit of a maximum deductible amount. Otherwise, they are likely to be deductible from taxable income. Explanations!

Capital video: meal costs

• 
  

  To safeguard
  

  
  
  

  Saved
  

Food costs: a personal expense

Food costs

Employees and self -employed workers may be forced to have their meals outside their home for various reasons:

• An appointment far from the workplace.
• Special working hours.
• The distant situation of customers.

An expense not entitled to deduction

In principle, meal costs represent a personal order expenditure that does not entitle a deduction on taxable income when establishing the declaration of income. Thus, a meal taken by the employee at his home, prepared by himself, is not deductible from taxes.

What are the conditions for the deduction of an employee’s meal costs?

However, the additional expenses caused by a meal taken far from home are professional costs deductible from income, under certain conditions.

Costs necessary for the exercise of professional activity

Meal costs, to take advantage of the tax deduction, must be necessary for the exercise of professional activity, as soon as the professional cannot do other than to take his meal outside.

This means that the distance between the place of exercise of the activity and the place of the professional’s home is abnormally long, and does not allow him to return home in the case of a business trip, to a customer or for a Business meals.

A justified expenditure

The deduction of meal costs is based on the obligation to prove that the expense has been incurred for professional reasons. This means that the amount and nature of the expenses must be justified: the employee must keep the invoices mentioning the date, amount and nature of the meals consumed.

In addition, meals should not be taken care of otherwise: if the employer provides tickets-restaurants or meal allowance, the tax deduction cannot be applied to the same meals.

Reasonable meal fees

Meal costs should not be excessive either. They are necessarily limited. The professional cannot deduct the actual value of the meal taken outside, but the additional costs generated by taking the meal outside the home.

Who is affected by the reimbursement of meal costs?

As professional expenses, an employee can be reimbursed by his employer his meal costs. For this, he must be forced to have his meal outside the company or in the premises of the company (canteen, for example). This is called the “basket bonus”.

Reimbursement ceiling for meal allowances

The reimbursement of meal costs cannot exceed, per meal, the following amounts for 2025:

• 7.40 euros for an employee forced to have his meal in the workplace.
• 10.30 euros for an employee who is not forced to take his meal at the restaurant during a trip.
• 21.10 euros for an employee forced to have a meal at the restaurant.

Persons entitled to meal allowances

All employees may be entitled to meal allowance if they meet the following conditions:

• Be forced to have your meal at your workplace;
• Do not have a mode of collective restoration at its workplace;
• The break time is not long enough to go back to take your meal at your home;
• The basket bonus must appear on the employment contract.

Can we deduce the taxes of taxes?

For employees with a company canteen, it is possible to deduct the difference between the price of the canteen meal and the value of the meal taken at their home (valued at 5.45 euros in 2025). Please note, supporting documents will be requested.

How to calculate the meal costs for taxes?

Employees and self -employed workers can deduct from their taxable income the amount of meal costs corresponding to the difference between:

• The lump sum, which represents the value of a meal taken at home (5.45 euros);
• and the limit of exemption from allowances for meal costs.

What amount to deduct for meal costs in 2025?

Meal costs scale for the 2025 tax notice

For the expenses incurred in 2024, which will be deductible from the income declared in 2025, here is the scale:

• The flat -rate assessment of the food advantage is set at 5.35 euros.
• The limit of exemption from compensation for meal costs is set at 20.70 euros for an employee on the go forced to take his meal at the restaurant.
• The maximum amount of meal fees admitted to a day is 15.35 euros.

Set of professional meal costs for expenses incurred in 2025

For 2025, the ceilings were revalued by the tax administration. Thus, for the expenses incurred in 2025, which will be deductible from the income declared in 2025, here is the scale:

• The flat -rate assessment of the food in kind food is set at 5.45 euros.
• The limit of exemption from compensation for meal costs is set at 21.10 euros for an employee on the go forced to take his meal in the restaurant (10.30 euros if it is not forced).
• The maximum amount of meal costs admitted to a day is 19.40 euros.

Where and how to declare meal costs at taxes?

Deductible meal costs up to 10 %

The tax administration offers an automatic 10 % reduction on wages to take into account professional costs. In this case, the deduction is automatic and no line is to be completed on the declaration.

Declaration of meals for taxes in the event of real costs

The other option is to declare the real costs of its expenses if the latter exceed 10 %. If you opt for the real costs system, the 1DK 1DK boxes should be completed from the tax declaration, without removing them from the pre -registered amount in 1DJ lines.

For online statements on the tax site, this information is postponed each year. Note that it will be necessary to note the details of the costs in an explanatory note, and keep the supporting documents for at least three years.

>> Our service – Find vocational training which will boost or redire your career thanks to our specialized search engine (commercial, management, project management, languages, health, etc.) and come into contact with an advisor to guide you in your choice