Meals & tips

If there isn't documentation of who was there, what was discussed and the business reason for a meal, it's likely that if you can't remember or don't have it written down in your documentation/calendar/file somewhere...it's going to questioned and possibly denied by an audit.

It's necessary to keep the document that shows what you ate and drank, and the credit card slip that shows you paid for the meal.  Both are actually the basis of a complete paper trail of your business expense.

Writing down who, what, and the business reason on the back of the receipt will provide you with the best paper trail possible, and doing it at the time means you don't have to rack your brain later to figure out who, what and why.

Tips are allowed to be claimed as long as they are reasonable of course, as are meals. Tips however, are not eligible for a claim for the ITC as the waitress isn't a registrant.  It's necessary to segregate out the GST/HST paid on the receipt and claim only that amount when you file your GST/HST return.