There is no Deduction for Harvest Meals Starting January 1
TCJA dropped the harvest meals deduction to 50% for a few years. Beginning next year there is no deduction.
First, the image above was created by AI. I asked Gemini AI to create an image of a lunch crew in wheat harvest with a John Deere combine in the background. It took about 30 seconds to create it, and it does look like a real photo, but it is not.
Farmers have been providing harvest meals (and other meals) for their convenience to employees for decades if not centuries. Before 2018, the farmer could deduct 100% of this meals cost, but beginning in 2018, the deduction dropped to 50% due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Trump Tax Cuts).
However, starting January 1, 2026, there is no longer any deduction for meals that a farmer provides to their employees on the business premises. We hazard a guess that many farmers have not been backing out 50% of their meals for the last 8 years and may miss backing out 100% starting next year. But this is the new rule beginning then.
The picture, it's not terrible, but the longer I look at it.....it's like a game of trying to figure out how much is incorrect about it..... There is dust behind it, like it might be running, but there isn't a driver. Plus, if it were running, I sure wouldn't be sitting there eating my food as it went by! Where are the chips and brownies-looks like they are eating healthy with a lot of fruit :)
So...the BBB didn't address meals deductions, and the TCJA wiped out the any farm meals deductibility. Is there another provision that addresses taxability of farm products provided to the employee? What about the $10,000 the farm paid to buy fats from a neighbor and have them processed for employees?