Q. How come IBM can take clients out for lunch, pay for them and themselves and yet I can’t claim for my lunch nor can I entertain clients?
A. Tax relief for expenses incurred in connection with entertainment are not allowed unless the expense has been paid or reimbursed by the employer and has been disallowed in arriving at the employer’s taxable profit. Client entertaining is not an allowable deduction for the employer so, in this case, relief will be available for the employee, provided that they are required for genuine business reasons to entertain clients in the course of performing the duties of the employment.
Provided you meet the above criteria then your company can pay for business lunches without any personal tax consequences to you but your company cannot claim a corporation tax deduction for the expense.
This is not a response to this question as the person asking the question is in fact asking how IBM gets away with it, while he or she can’t. This is again an example of how questions can be misread and answers do not really address the issue.