Can you deduct meal expenses as French real expenses?
Yes, but only in specific cases. If work forces you to eat away from home, you may deduct the extra meal cost, not the whole meal. For 2025 income, the French tax value of a home meal is €5.45.
Good to know :
This answer helps you understand a topic or make an estimate, but it is not a substitute for professional advice. For any important decision regarding your health, finances, rights, safety or administrative procedures, please consult an official source or a qualified specialist.
Explanation
Meal expenses may be included in French real expenses when your job actually prevents you from eating at home: unusual hours, a short break, a workplace too far away, business travel or no practical option nearby.
The basic idea is simple: eating is not automatically a professional expense. What may be deductible is the extra cost caused by having to eat away from home because of work.
For 2025 income, the tax value of a home meal is €5.45. If you have a precise receipt, start from the actual price paid and subtract that value. If you use meal vouchers, you must also subtract the employer-funded share.
For a young worker, the mistake is easy: you pay for lunch with a meal card and assume the full amount is work-related. Not quite. You need to separate what you actually paid yourself, what was funded by the employer and what corresponds to a normal meal at home.
Formula / method
Retained meal expense = meal price paid - €5.45 - employer-funded meal voucher share
Apply only to meals that are actually work-related and can be supported.
Concrete example
You work far from home and have to eat near the office. You pay €12 for lunch and keep a receipt. For 2025 income, the basic calculation is:
€12 - €5.45 = €6.55 potentially deductible.
If your employer funds €4.50 through a meal voucher, the calculation becomes:
€12 - €5.45 - €4.50 = €2.05 potentially deductible.
Then multiply only by the working days when you actually had to eat away from home.
Common mistake
Never deduct all your meals just because you work. Only the extra cost caused by work may count, and only if you can explain the situation and keep proof.
Sources & methodology
- impots.gouv.fr — Meal expenses — Official rule for additional meal expenses, 2025 home-meal value of €5.45, receipts and employer-funded meal voucher share.
- impots.gouv.fr — Meal vouchers and real meal expenses — Official calculation examples with or without meal vouchers.
- impots.gouv.fr — Declaring professional expenses — Reminder about the real expenses option, the 10% standard deduction and the need to justify expenses.
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