Taking your client out to dinner: is it tax-deductible?

Why is a business dinner only partly deductible?

The tax authorities see a dinner with a client as a mixed cost. It's partly business, because you're maintaining a relationship or working on a project. But there's also a personal element, because you'd need to eat anyway. Because of that personal part, you can't deduct the costs in full.

These mixed costs include business dinners and lunches, receptions, drinks and business gifts.

How much can you deduct in 2026?

For income tax you may choose between two methods. With the 80% method you deduct 80% of your mixed costs and cover the remaining 20% yourself. With the threshold method you only deduct the amount above a fixed threshold. In 2026 that threshold is 5,700 euros.

Have a BV? Then it runs through corporate tax and the deduction percentage is 73.5% instead of 80%.

A calculation example

Say you spend 2,000 euros in total on business dinners in 2026. With the 80% method you may deduct 1,600 euros. With the threshold method you may deduct nothing, because you stay below 5,700 euros. So for most self-employed people the 80% method is by far the most advantageous.

Can you reclaim the VAT?

VAT on food and drink at a hospitality venue generally cannot be reclaimed. That applies to the restaurant dinner. An exception is catering at your own office, but for the classic dinner out the VAT is almost never deductible.

How do you record it in your bookkeeping?

Keep the receipt or invoice and note who you dined with and the business purpose. In an audit the tax authorities want to see this. Record the dinner as entertainment costs, inclusive of VAT, since you don't reclaim that VAT. And don't forget: you must keep your records for seven years.