If you’re hosting a holiday get together for employees, you can slide right by the regular entertainment rules. Instead, you can deduct 100% of your costs – and you don’t even have to talk about business. Just make sure that all your employees are invited. To get the full write-off, you can’t discriminate by limiting the party to top executives.

You can also receive a write-off for hosting a holiday party at your home for friends and business associates. If the party follows a "substantial business discussion," you can deduct 50% of your qualified expenses as business entertainment.

So host your holiday party on a Friday night after an important meeting. If a client is from out of town, it’s OK to hold the get-together the day before or after the business discussion. Remember, only the portion of costs attributable to your business guests can be deducted, subjected to the 50% rule.