Sustenance Allowance

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

I have heard I can claim £5/day in sustenance. Is this true? If so what are the rules? i.e. i currently commute but spend more than 12 hours away from home, would I be eligible or do I have to stay away from home to be able to claim?

[xoggoth]

It's PIE. You have to spend the night away for that. Check booklet 480 on IR site.

[Craig@Clarity]

I have heard I can claim £5/day in sustenance. Is this true? If so what are the rules? i.e. i currently commute but spend more than 12 hours away from home, would I be eligible or do I have to stay away from home to be able to claim?

I would suggest claiming the actual cost of your travel and subsistence if you are working at a temporary workplace rather than round sum amounts and get a receipt where possible. The temporary workplace is determined on where you can predict or you have been at the same location for 24 months or more.

[Wanderer]

I have heard I can claim £5/day in sustenance. Is this true? If so what are the rules? i.e. i currently commute but spend more than 12 hours away from home, would I be eligible or do I have to stay away from home to be able to claim?

Are you LTD or umbrella?

Lots of umbrellas will let you claim 20 quid a day if you work > 11 hours a day (from home to home), I can't see why you can't claim the same through your LTD provided the expense is actually incurred and you have the receipts.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

It doesn't really matter how many hours you spend away from home if those are your normal working hours. If you normally work 8 hours a day but, due to an unforseen crisis, you work a 12 hour day HMR&C would not consider it unreasonable to claim for the cost of a take-away on the way home but if you always work a 12 hour day there wouldn't be the same entitlement. A fixed £20 per day would usually be a scale rate payment but you would still have to prove that a cost had been incurred and that it was an allowable cost.

[SueEllen]

It doesn't really matter how many hours you spend away from home if those are your normal working hours.

If the place is a temporary workplace then it's unlikely to be your normal working hours unless all your contracts have involved working that far from home.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

If the place is a temporary workplace then it's unlikely to be your normal working hours unless all your contracts have involved working that far from home.

Sorry SueEllen don't get what you mean

[Abbeyweb]

I have heard I can claim £5/day in sustenance. Is this true? If so what are the rules? i.e. i currently commute but spend more than 12 hours away from home, would I be eligible or do I have to stay away from home to be able to claim?

As xoggoth already said, it's not sustenance but PIE (Personal Incidental Expenditure) and u must spend overnight in order to claim it. It's designed to cover things like personal calls, laundry, newspapers and items bought from vending machines etc. and is £5 for uk overnight stays and £10 for overnight stays abroad.

[pmeswani]

As xoggoth already said, it's not sustenance but PIE (Personal Incidental Expenditure) and u must spend overnight in order to claim it. It's designed to cover things like personal calls, laundry, newspapers and items bought from vending machines etc. and is £5 for uk overnight stays and £10 for overnight stays abroad.

How do you get a receipt for purchases made via a vending machine and laundry (unless the hotel provides laundry facilities)?

I have never claimed funds for Dry Cleaning or from vending machines. I can prove expense for Dry Cleaning, but how do you prove an expense from a vending machine?

[FiveTimes]

It doesn't really matter how many hours you spend away from home if those are your normal working hours. .

So what constitutes normal working hours ?

If I land a contract that involves a 2 hour commute each side then add that to the 8.5hour I'd be doing best part of 12/13 hours a day. Is that classed as normal for the contract ?