Food Allowance

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

That's a fair point. However, if ones dispensation allows you to claim a daily amount in food (whether it is brekkie, lunch and / or dinner), as long as it is within agreed limits, it should be claimable. I wouldn't expect a permie to be able to claim these as a business expense, but there again, they have other benefits that we dont get from the client.

A dispensation wont allow you to 'claim' a daily amount in food - a dispensation merely means that the expense will not have to be recorded on a P11D. The expense still has to be allowable and it still has to be incurred. If you don't incur and additional cost for food it cannot be claimed regardless of what the dispensation says

[Bob Jones]

All I have done is to set out the strict legal position - how it happens in the real world it perhaps different but if a civil servant takes a packed lunch on an away day, then claims that a meal was purchased at a higher cost than normal and then claims meal allowance at the scale rate then that claim is false - the claim form completed by civil servants has words to the effect that false claims could lead to dismissal - which would possibly also include loss of pension rights and/or imprisonment.
In the real world I operate under my own limited company so I am hardly going to threaten myself with the sack - expenses paid by Umbrellas are not in addition to salary - the contractor will end up with the money anyway but not necessarily tax free (HMRC refer to this as salary sacrifice) so the Umbrella is hardly likely to threaten the contractor with the sack.
The crux is how the umbrella/limited company operates - what stipulations, if any, have been set out by HMRC on the granting of the scale charge and whether HMRC are prepared to turn a blind eye - they might have in the past - they might not in the future .....
It was obvious (to me at least) from the consultation document that HMRC want to do away with Umbrellas - that didn't happen but they have promised to use existing powers to look at critically at Umbrellas and the overall situation will be kept under review. Don't be surprised if the operation of scale charges is near the top of the HMRC hit list.....
Bob

[Weltchy]

I would have thought the very nature of having to go to work as opposed to staying at home and doing bugger all (On the bench) would lead to the conclusion that when at work, you would be required to consume more calories. Therefore, surely the difference in the number of calories consumed when at work as compared to when doing bugger all at home would be a quantifiable amount that could be classified as being solely for the benefit of the business.

[Flubster]

Therefore, surely the difference in the number of calories consumed when at work as compared to when doing bugger all at home would be a quantifiable amount that could be classified as being solely for the benefit of the business.

Made even more confusing if you have just started a New Year diet and thus consuming much less calories.

It has to be said, I feel like writing a letter to the Editor of The Times about this thread. It's starting to make my blood boil...

[Weltchy]

Made even more confusing if you have just started a New Year diet and thus consuming much less calories.

It has to be said, I feel like writing a letter to the Editor of The Times about this thread. It's starting to make my blood boil...

Tell me about it. I'm currently calorie counting my way back to fitness, hence it would be easy for me to track Business Related Calories (BRC).

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I would have thought the very nature of having to go to work as opposed to staying at home and doing bugger all (On the bench) would lead to the conclusion that when at work, you would be required to consume more calories. Therefore, surely the difference in the number of calories consumed when at work as compared to when doing bugger all at home would be a quantifiable amount that could be classified as being solely for the benefit of the business.

Unfortunately not Weltchy. From HMR&C:

The cost of food or drink consumed for the human requirement of sustenance is not allowable. It does not matter that work occasions a greater appetite or causes greater expense. The expenditure is at best dual purpose. There is no mechanism to allow an apportionment to give a ‘business’ proportion or the ‘extra cost’ imposed by the business. The whole cost is disallowed.

[Bob Jones]

Lisa is quite correct and her statement is based on a Tax Case from just over 30 years ago – one where it was argued that it was the strenuous nature of the job caused the person to eat more (and consequently spend more) than would otherwise have been the case. The following is an adaptation of the HMRC manual with regard to employees:
To qualify for a deduction the subsistence costs must be attributable to the business travel in the sense that they are costs incurred in the course of the journey that are additional to any costs that the employee would incur if it were not for the business travel. Once it is accepted that the employee has incurred allowable subsistence expenses it is not necessary to take into account the costs saved as a result of the business travel. For example, if the employee needs to eat in a restaurant while on a business trip a deduction for the full cost of the meal can be granted without any adjustment for the costs saved by not eating at home.
The following is a direct quote from the manual relating to those in business on their own account:
“The cost of meals taken away from the place of business is not in general an expense incurred wholly and exclusively for business purposes, since everyone must eat in order to live.
“But extra costs may be incurred wholly for business purposes where a business is by its nature itinerant.”
It is the journey that is the key not the simple act of eating or the appetite of the individual AND there has to be an additional cost.
Bob

[stphnstevey]

Loads of discussion and nobody really knowing the answer!

I have claimed food expenses on business journeys for years. it's an allowable business expense - end of