Help, House share accommodation question

[Sausage thunder]

All, im new to this contracting lark and i have recently started a new contract. My first week i stayed in a very below par Travelodge and i claimed full accommodation expenses along with overnight subsistance through my umbrella co Parasol.

I have now moved into a shared house...............or is it a guest house????

My question is this, what is the difference between a shared house and a guest house??? my normal understanding of the rules are that if i have use of a kitchen i cant claim overnight subsistance, and because im renting for a full month i can only claim for 20 days out of 30. I.E working days

Now suppose i said i was staying in a guest house (room only) and was being billed £25pn mon-fri and the nice lady who owns the house offered to cook me evening meals for say £15pn.................what would be the HMRC stance on this and would it be feasable for me to claim overnight subsistance????

Any help and or advice would be appreciated

[Sausage thunder]

ANYONE???????????????????????????

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

The way expenses work is that they are (usually) claimable if you have incurred an additional cost because of the contract. If you are staying in accommodation where you have access to a kitchen and can reasonably prepare meals then there is no additional cost because you would be in the same position if you were staying in your own home and therefore there is no additional cost. If, on the other hand, you stay in a B&B and have no provision to cook then you have no choice but to eat out and therefore the cost would be allowable. What do you mean by overnight subsistence?