I hate this fucking excuse, and I killed it in my current company because it leads to administrative overhead and all kinds of bullshit discussions about who contributes how much, just to save a few bucks.

Yes, the company has to pay tax over the free food we give our employees because it's considered part of their pay. In the grand scheme of things: big fucking deal.

It's cool in a larger company where you have a well-stocked cafeteria where you can buy good food at heavily subsidized prices.

But in small companies this micro bean counter attitude in order to avoid taxes is actually more demotivating and divisive than not providing free food at all. Especially if you're in the middle of the city and people have dozens of options to go out for lunch.

Why can't IRS just tax employees as if they received whatever sum spent on free food as income?

Still much less hassle-free if you ask me.