In the process of production and operation, due to the needs of business entertainment, employees' business trips, internal management, conferences and exhibitions, and improving employees' welfare, some catering expenses often occur in various forms, which leads to various problems in accounting treatment and tax treatment. In practice, some enterprises indiscriminately record the meal expenses as "business entertainment expenses" when accounting for them.

however, according to the relevant provisions of the enterprise income tax law, the business entertainment expenses incurred by an enterprise related to production and business activities shall be deducted according to 61% of the amount incurred, but the maximum amount shall not exceed 5‰ of the sales (business) income of that year. Therefore, the business entertainment expenses incurred by the enterprise can only be partially charged before the enterprise income tax. Because the meal expenses that did not belong to the business entertainment expenses were wrongly recorded in this subject, it occupied a certain deduction amount, which will inevitably bring certain tax losses and tax risks to the enterprise.

in order to help you deal with catering expenses correctly, we systematically analyze various situations and give corresponding accounting and tax treatment methods for you, so that you can deal with them correctly in practice and reduce losses and risks.

1. Missed meal subsidy

What is a missed meal subsidy? Caishuizi [1995] No.82 document gives a definition: The non-taxable missed meal subsidy stipulated in Guo Shui Fa [1994] No.89 document refers to the fact that according to the regulations of the financial department, if an individual is working in a city or a suburb on business, he can't go to work or return to eat, and really needs to eat out, according to the actual number of missed meals, the. Subsidies and allowances paid by some units to employees in the name of meal-missing subsidies shall be incorporated into the income from wages and salaries of the current month and personal income tax shall be levied.

1. Accounting treatment

According to the beneficiaries, the subjects such as management expenses, sales expenses, production costs, manufacturing expenses, construction in progress and R&D expenses are debited respectively, and the subjects such as employee salaries payable are credited.

2. Tax-related matters

Guo Shui Fa [1994] No.89 stipulates that the allowance for missed meals belongs to income that is not subject to personal income tax. However, except for some policy documents in the early 1991s (which are obviously not applicable to the current price level), there is no unified policy document at present. Therefore, in practice, reasonable allowance standards should be formulated in combination with the local average consumption level. And the corresponding system should be improved, and the distribution records should be kept as attachments.

ii. lunch subsidies and overtime meals

article 2 of caiqi [2119] No.242 stipulates that holiday subsidies and monthly lunch subsidies paid by enterprises to employees should be included in the management of total wages.

1. Accounting treatment

There are actually two situations for lunch subsidies and overtime meals paid to employees:

(1) The monthly lunch subsidies or overtime meals paid to employees by enterprises in cash according to fixed standards should be included in the total wages, and the accounts should be calculated according to the expenses of different departments (management expenses, sales expenses, etc.), and the "Payable to employees-lunch subsidies (overtime meal subsidies)" should be passed.

(2) according to the enterprise financial system, the meal expenses reimbursed by employees with invoices shall be recorded in "management expenses-business entertainment expenses".

2. Tax-related matters

(1) Personal income tax: lunch subsidies and overtime meal subsidies paid in cash should be included in the total wages and paid as income from wages and salaries.

(2) corporate income tax: the expenses of meals reimbursed by employees with invoices evade personal income tax through the management expenses-business entertainment expenses. However, due to the limitation of business entertainment expenses before corporate income tax, enterprises will pay more corporate income tax.

Therefore, enterprises should choose which form to grant meal allowance according to their own management needs.

iii. meals for business trips

generally, there are two situations for employees' meals for business trips, one is to provide cash subsidies according to the company system according to the number of business trips, and the other is to reimburse them according to the facts with invoices.

1. Accounting treatment

Reasonable travel expenses incurred by employees of enterprises, whether paid in cash according to fixed standards or reimbursed by bills, should be recorded in the subject of "management expenses/sales expenses-travel expenses".

2. Tax-related matters

(1) Personal income tax: According to the provisions of Guo Shui Fa [1994] No.189, the travel allowance does not belong to the subsidies and allowances of wages and salaries or the income of the taxpayer's own wages and salaries, and no personal income tax is levied.

It should be noted that the over-standard or abnormal travel allowance may be recognized by the tax authorities as a disguised payment of wage subsidies and allowances, so as to levy personal income tax. As for the payment standard of business meals, many places refer to the provisions of the Notice of the Ministry of Finance on Printing and Distributing the Measures for the Administration of Travel Expenses of Central State Organs and Institutions (Caixing [2116] No.313). According to this regulation, the food allowance for business travelers shall be fixed according to the natural (calendar) days of business trip, and 51 yuan shall be paid per person per day. However, since the document was formulated more than ten years ago, prices have risen rapidly, the economic development level of different places is different, and the standards of different places may be different. In practice, a reasonable meal subsidy system should be formulated according to local policy requirements and consumption standards.

(2) Enterprise income tax: In the actual work, attention should be paid to the completeness of relevant evidence materials for the business trip meal expenses reimbursed by the enterprise, such as the name, place, time and task of the business trip personnel, and the corresponding transportation and accommodation invoices, so as to distinguish the meal expenses in business entertainment expenses. In addition, enterprises should formulate reasonable travel allowance standards and payment systems according to their own conditions, and file them with the competent tax authorities to prevent tax risks in tax inspection.

iv. Hospitality expenses

Meal expenses incurred by an enterprise as business entertainment expenses, such as banquets for customers and employees or other entertainment expenses, should be recorded as "management expenses-business entertainment expenses". It should be noted that according to Article 43 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Enterprise Income Tax Law, business entertainment expenses incurred by an enterprise related to production and business activities shall be deducted according to 61% of the amount incurred, but the maximum amount shall not exceed the sales (business) of the current year.

v. conference meals

according to article 11 of the measures for the administration of conference fees of central state organs (Guo Guan Cai [2116] No.426), conference expenses include conference room rent (including conference room rent), food subsidies, transportation expenses, office supplies, document printing fees, medical expenses, etc.

therefore, the normal catering expenses incurred during the meeting belong to the category of meeting expenses, not catering services, and should be accounted as meeting expenses in accounting and recorded as "management expenses/sales expenses-meeting expenses". And the meal expenses calculated as conference expenses can be deducted in full before enterprise income tax. However, if an enterprise holds an annual meeting or a dinner organized by other activities, its expenses shall be recorded in the subject of "management expenses/sales expenses-employee welfare expenses".

it should be noted here that the tax law clearly stipulates that enterprises should strictly distinguish business entertainment expenses from conference expenses, and shall not record business entertainment expenses as conference expenses. Taxpayers' travel expenses, conference fees and directors' fees related to their business activities shall be able to provide legal documents to prove their authenticity if required by the competent tax authorities, otherwise they shall not be deducted before tax.

therefore, in order to clearly distinguish business entertainment expenses, enterprises should provide authentic and legal materials for meeting expenses, such as meeting time, place, attendees, content, purpose, expense standard, payment voucher, etc. Many enterprises may attach importance to the organization of meetings, but ignore the collection of relevant documents, which eventually leads to tax-related risks.

VI. Training Meals

According to the provisions of document Caijian [2116] No.317 on the scope of funds for the education and training of employees in enterprises, the meal expenses incurred by the enterprises when employees go out for training should be charged as employee education funds before tax and recorded as "management expenses-employee education funds".

as far as enterprise income tax is concerned, Caishui [2118] No.51 document stipulates that the part of employees' education expenses incurred by an enterprise that does not exceed 8% of the total wages and salaries is allowed to be deducted when calculating the taxable income of enterprise income tax; The excess shall be allowed to be carried forward and deducted in future tax years.

Conclusion:

1. Not all meals are within the scope of business entertainment expenses;

2. The accounting subjects of meal expenses should follow the accounting subjects of main activity expenses, such as travel expenses, meeting expenses and training expenses.

3. The enterprise shall formulate a reasonable system and standard of reimbursement for missed meals and travel expenses to avoid the risk of tax adjustment in tax inspection;

4. enterprises should obtain legal and valid bills when catering expenses are incurred, and keep relevant information as accounting vouchers and pre-tax deduction vouchers.

Summary of handling meals in different situations:

In addition to necessary patience and care in financial work,

the most important thing is a company's financial process manual with clear responsibilities and clear processes

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