Updated October 18, 2026. Quick answer: Line 24a is for lodging and transportation on overnight business travel, and meals do not go there. Line 24b is for your deductible business meal expenses, which are generally a percentage of what you spent. Entertainment does not go on either line.
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Related reading on this site: IRS Publication 463.
Line 24a: travel
The form’s caption reads “Travel and meals”, with travel on line 24a. The instructions say “Enter your expenses for lodging and transportation connected with overnight travel for business while away from your tax home.” “In most cases, your tax home is your main place of business, regardless of where you maintain your family home.”
They set limits: you “can’t deduct expenses paid or incurred in connection with employment away from home if that period of employment exceeds 1 year.” “Also, you cannot deduct travel expenses for your spouse, your dependent, or any other individual unless that person is your employee, the travel is for a bona fide business purpose, and the expenses would otherwise be deductible by that person.”
“Do not include expenses for meals on this line.” “Do not include entertainment expenses on this line.” For conventions: you “can’t deduct expenses for attending a convention, seminar, or similar meeting held outside the North American area unless the meeting is directly related to your trade or business and it is as reasonable for the meeting to be held outside the North American area as within it.” “For details on travel expenses, see chapter 1 of Pub. 463.”
The optional method for incidental expenses
“Instead of keeping records of your actual incidental expenses, you can use an optional method for deducting incidental expenses only if you did not pay or incur meal expenses on a day you were traveling away from your tax home. The amount of the deduction is $5 a day.” “Incidental expenses include fees and tips given to porters, baggage carriers, bellhops, hotel maids, stewards or stewardesses and others on ships, and hotel servants in foreign countries.”
Line 24b: deductible meals
The caption reads “Deductible meals (see instructions)”. The instructions say “Enter your deductible business meal expenses. This includes expenses for meals while traveling away from home for business.” “In most cases, the percentage is 50%.” “Do not include entertainment expenses on this line.”
For actual business meals, the instructions say you “can deduct a percentage of the actual cost of a meal if the following conditions are met.” The conditions include:
- “The meal expense was an ordinary and necessary expense in carrying on your trade or business.”
- “The expense was not lavish or extravagant under the circumstances.”
- You or your employee “was present at the meal.”
- “The meal was provided to a current or potential business customer, client, consultant, or similar business contact.”
- “In the case of food or beverages provided during or at an entertainment event, the food and beverages were purchased separately from the entertainment, or the cost of the food and beverages was stated separately from the cost of the entertainment on one or more bills, invoices, or receipts.”
Standard meal allowance and the percentage
The instructions offer an alternative: “Instead of deducting the actual cost of your meals while traveling away from home, you can use the standard meal allowance for your daily meals and incidental expenses.” “However, you must still keep records to prove the time, place, and business purpose of your travel.” “The standard meal allowance is the federal meals and incidental expenses” rate, and the instructions point you to the General Services Administration and to Pub. 463, chapter 2, for the rates and the method.
On the percentage: “In most cases, you can deduct only 50% of your business meal expenses, including meals incurred while away from home on business.” “However, for individuals subject to the Department of Transportation (DOT) hours of service limits, the percentage is increased to 80% for business meals consumed during or incident to any period of duty for which those limits are in effect.”
Two exceptions are fully deductible: “you can fully deduct meals and incidentals furnished or reimbursed to an employee if you properly treat the expense as wages subject to withholding.” “can also fully deduct meals and incidentals provided to a nonemployee to the extent the expenses are includible in the gross income of that person and reported on Form 1099-NEC.” That form is explained on the Form 1099-NEC box 1 page.
Where the number comes from
Line 24a comes from your lodging and transportation receipts for overnight business trips. Line 24b comes from your meal receipts or the standard meal allowance, reduced to the deductible percentage before you enter it. The instructions say business meal expenses are “a percentage of your actual business meal expenses or standard meal allowance.”
Where it goes next
Each Part II expense line is a step toward the total on line 28. The form describes it as “Total expenses before expenses for business use of home. Add lines 8 through 27b”. Line 29 then reads “Tentative profit or (loss). Subtract line 28 from line 7”. Part II also carries this heading: “Expenses. Enter expenses for business use of your home only on line 30.” Lines 28 and 29 are explained on the Schedule C lines 27a to 29 page and line 30 on the Schedule C line 30 page. The overall form is explained on the Schedule C (Form 1040) page, and the return it attaches to is the Form 1040.
Edition and line numbers
This page reads the 2025 Schedule C (Form 1040) and its 2025 instructions, the current files irs.gov served on 2026-10-18. They are the files for the tax year 2025 return, filed in 2026. The schedule’s heading says “Attach to Form 1040, 1040-SR, 1040-SS, 1040-NR, or 1041”. Check the tax year printed on the schedule you are filling in and use the line numbers on that year’s schedule, because a different year’s schedule can number or word its lines differently.
Common mistakes
- Putting meals on the travel line. The instructions say “Do not include expenses for meals on this line.”
- Deducting the full cost of a business meal. The instructions say “In most cases, you can deduct only 50% of your business meal expenses, including meals incurred while away from home on business.”
- Including entertainment. The instructions say “Do not include entertainment expenses on this line.”
Related: Schedule C (Form 1040), Form 1099-NEC box 1, and Form 1040.
Sources
- Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sc.pdf
- Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 18, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.