Are you in the US? Unless you’re self- employed, you can not (legally) deduct food - including coffee.
If you’re playing that game, maybe you’ll get away with it, but maybe you won’t. If you do, you’d better have your paperwork ready - receipts for everything you’ve deducted - because if you’re audited not only will you be fined and have to pay back taxes on ask of the stuff you’ve been deducting against the rules, but they’ll also question every legitimate deduction.
Now, if you have a medical prescription for pot, you can deduct medical expenses - although, if you’re itemizing, you have to be spending a shit-ton on pot to equal the standard deduction. You can’t take the deduction and itemize your expenses.
Self-employed is different. You can deduct all sorts of things the majority of employees can’t.
So let’s go back to coffee and pot. Coffee isn’t deductible because it’s a drug people are addicted to; it’s counted as food. If you’re eating edibles, then… maybe? If they’re, like, pot brownies with some nutritional content, almost certainly. If they’re gummies, IDK. Maybe they count as food as much as candy does. Alcohol has calories, and counts as food, probably as much because it’s so socially ingrained as part of a meal any other reason.
If you’re smoking or vaping, though, a better comparison would be cigarettes. Cigarettes and vapes are not deductible, even for self-employed. And your Xanax example - again - is deducted as a medical expenses, which only counts if you have a prescription.
Another example: you can’t deduct homeopathic remedies, or other pseudo-science supplements. You can’t deduct anything that you don’t have a prescription for as a medical expenses. You can’t deduct acupuncture, because it’s not officially recognized as a legitimate medical treatment. You can’t deduct massages, unless you can get a doctor to actually prescribe you a message, like for PT.
So, going back to your original post: for self-employed, coffee is deducted as a food, not a medicine, and comes out of a daily allowance. Cigarettes can’t be deducted as a food or a medicine, and so aren’t deductible. And unless you have a prescription for pot, or are buying edibles that you’re deducting out of your meal allowance, you can’t deduct it.
Are you in the US? Unless you’re self- employed, you can not (legally) deduct food - including coffee.
If you’re playing that game, maybe you’ll get away with it, but maybe you won’t. If you do, you’d better have your paperwork ready - receipts for everything you’ve deducted - because if you’re audited not only will you be fined and have to pay back taxes on ask of the stuff you’ve been deducting against the rules, but they’ll also question every legitimate deduction.
Now, if you have a medical prescription for pot, you can deduct medical expenses - although, if you’re itemizing, you have to be spending a shit-ton on pot to equal the standard deduction. You can’t take the deduction and itemize your expenses.
I am self-employed, and I have a qualified tax professional do my returns.
Self-employed is different. You can deduct all sorts of things the majority of employees can’t.
So let’s go back to coffee and pot. Coffee isn’t deductible because it’s a drug people are addicted to; it’s counted as food. If you’re eating edibles, then… maybe? If they’re, like, pot brownies with some nutritional content, almost certainly. If they’re gummies, IDK. Maybe they count as food as much as candy does. Alcohol has calories, and counts as food, probably as much because it’s so socially ingrained as part of a meal any other reason.
If you’re smoking or vaping, though, a better comparison would be cigarettes. Cigarettes and vapes are not deductible, even for self-employed. And your Xanax example - again - is deducted as a medical expenses, which only counts if you have a prescription.
Another example: you can’t deduct homeopathic remedies, or other pseudo-science supplements. You can’t deduct anything that you don’t have a prescription for as a medical expenses. You can’t deduct acupuncture, because it’s not officially recognized as a legitimate medical treatment. You can’t deduct massages, unless you can get a doctor to actually prescribe you a message, like for PT.
So, going back to your original post: for self-employed, coffee is deducted as a food, not a medicine, and comes out of a daily allowance. Cigarettes can’t be deducted as a food or a medicine, and so aren’t deductible. And unless you have a prescription for pot, or are buying edibles that you’re deducting out of your meal allowance, you can’t deduct it.
It goes in office supplies duh