Season Tickets to Sports Events
You cannot deduct the cost of “facilities” such as deer leases or country club memberships. However, the special rules for facilities do not apply to season tickets. You can deduct the cost of season tickets, but you must allocate the cost to each separate entertainment event. For example, here in San Antonio, if you bought season tickets to the Spurs games, you would need to provide documentation for each game, including who attended and how they relate to your business. The amount deductible is limited to the face value of the ticket. For a “skybox” or other areas leased and used exclusively by you and your guests, the amount deductible is limited to the face value of non-luxury seats for the area covered by the leased box.
Under these rules, the deductible costs of season tickets must be determined separately for each game. Attendance at a basketball game would involve a “distracting” activity that is not conducive to a business discussion, so the cost of the game would not be directly related to the conduct of the trade or business. However, attendance at a game before or after the conduct of a substantial business discussion could qualify as being associated with the business; in these circumstances, the cost of the event would be deductible.
If you provided food to your client or customer at the basketball game, the cost of the food would be deductible as part of the cost of the event. If food is provided as a benefit of a box lease, the food would be deductible in addition to the ticket, and you would determine the fair market value of the ticket and the food separately.
