- 70 -
are within this group. Suffice it to say that this group is
relatively small, and an identification of this group would not
affect our holding herein.
We conclude that none of petitioners' employees may exclude
the meals from gross income on account of this factor.
4. Short Lunch Period With Inability To Eat Elsewhere
An employer furnishes a meal to an employee for a
substantial noncompensatory business reason if the employer's
business demands that the employee's meal period be short and the
employee cannot be expected to eat elsewhere in such a short
period of time. Sec. 1.119-1(a)(2)(ii)(b), Income Tax Regs.
Such may be the case, for example, if the employer is engaged in
a business in which the peak workload occurs during the normal
meal periods. Id. Such is not the case when the employer limits
the employee's meal period so that the employee may leave work
earlier in the day. Id.
Petitioners generally argue that the fact that many of their
employees have meal periods of 45 minutes or less means that
petitioners have a substantial noncompensatory business reason
for furnishing meals to them. We disagree. The mere fact that a
meal period is 45 minutes or less does not mean that the value of
meals that an employee receives without charge at an employer
cafeteria is excludable from gross income under section 119.
What is critical to this factor is that the employer's business
demand that the employee's meal period be short and that the
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