Roomshare - Can I claim Subsistance for Meals

[arfurdailyrate]

Hello Everyone

Im a newbie to the site and have a question about claiming susbsitance for meals when I have a roomshare. I have my own Limited PSC and am staying away during the week on my current contract as too far to commute.

Initially I was in a hotel and I and could legimately claim subsistance expenses for all meals. I am now doing a roomshare i.e. renting a room in a house. The thing is the house has a kitchen and therefore it could be said has the capacity to make meals (not that I can be bothered) which obvously differs from a Hotel. Can I continue to claim for meal expenses as an employee of my company or have to take the hit and pay from my own pocket.

Any help much appreciated

[pmeswani]

Hello Everyone

Im a newbie to the site and have a question about claiming susbsitance for meals when I have a roomshare. I have my own Limited PSC and am staying away during the week on my current contract as too far to commute.

Initially I was in a hotel and I and could legimately claim subsistance expenses for all meals. I am now doing a roomshare i.e. renting a room in a house. The thing is the house has a kitchen and therefore it could be said has the capacity to make meals (not that I can be bothered) which obvously differs from a Hotel. Can I continue to claim for meal expenses as an employee of my company or have to take the hit and pay from my own pocket.

Any help much appreciated

If I understand your question correctly, then I guess you cannot claim for meals that could be eaten at home / roomshare. You could, probably, claim for lunch, but I am unsure if you will be able to claim for Breakfast. But I am pretty sure you won't be able to claim for an evening meal, especially as you have the ability to make your own meals at your place of residence. I would suggest speaking to your accountant to clarify what you could claim based on your circumstances.

[ASB]

Hello Everyone

Im a newbie to the site and have a question about claiming susbsitance for meals when I have a roomshare. I have my own Limited PSC and am staying away during the week on my current contract as too far to commute.

Initially I was in a hotel and I and could legimately claim subsistance expenses for all meals. I am now doing a roomshare i.e. renting a room in a house. The thing is the house has a kitchen and therefore it could be said has the capacity to make meals (not that I can be bothered) which obvously differs from a Hotel. Can I continue to claim for meal expenses as an employee of my company or have to take the hit and pay from my own pocket.

Any help much appreciated

It's a bit grey. I'd claim it, see what account has to say and then decide whether to claim it against tax.

This is unlikely to clear up any confusion, but may be useful.

Accommodation and Subsistence | General | Tax Clinic

[Pondlife]

My take on it is that you have to eat anyway and you're not having to pay extra due to forking out for a hotel club sandwich at a tenner a bite because you have no alternative.

If you were at home you would prepare your own food purchased from a supermarket and so doing the same but located somewhere else is no (real) additional cost.

Rent is obviously claimable, meals out most likely also... but with a loaf of tesco bread, some deli ham and a jar of colemans... or the contractors classic of Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle it is harder to argue that you have incurred any additional cost by being away.

Just my £0.02.

[xoggoth]

As some have said this is a grey area and even accountants don't agree. Look at this link.

http://www.taxationweb.co.uk/tax-cli...bsistence.html

It may be that you have a case if you spend significantly more than you would at home, for example if you normally share meals with family and someone else does the cooking, whereas you can't cook and have to buy more expensive ready meals.

[SallyPlanIT]

According to HMRC BIM manuals:

However, if the subcontractor is obliged to incur the costs of overnight subsistence when working away from the business base you should not object to reasonable expenditure on accommodation and subsistence. The reasonable cost of a meal should be allowed whether it is taken at the accommodation or within the vicinity of the accommodation.

[TykeMerc]

According to HMRC BIM manuals:

However, if the subcontractor is obliged to incur the costs of overnight subsistence when working away from the business base you should not object to reasonable expenditure on accommodation and subsistence. The reasonable cost of a meal should be allowed whether it is taken at the accommodation or within the vicinity of the accommodation.

I've encountered this myself several times as I get very fed up with staying in hotels when contracting away and usually get a house share.
I agree it seems a tad daft that if eating at the hotel it's allowable as an expense, but not if you cook, you're still working away.

If I eat out then I expense the receipted value, however if I go to the supermarket and get typical stuff that I'd eat at home then I don't expense that as it's impossible to argue that it's cost more than it would have at home. The professional advice I've had is that supermarket receipts will get unwanted attention in any HMRC audit and I can understand why.

[blacjac]

If I understand your question correctly, then I guess you cannot claim for meals that could be eaten at home / roomshare. You could, probably, claim for lunch, but I am unsure if you will be able to claim for Breakfast. But I am pretty sure you won't be able to claim for an evening meal, especially as you have the ability to make your own meals at your place of residence. I would suggest speaking to your accountant to clarify what you could claim based on your circumstances.

You can claim what you like, but lunch isn't tax deductible

[xoggoth]

Double http in an SallyPlanIt's link

Wholly & exclusively: duality of, or non-trade, purpose: non travel topics: accommodation and subsistence: sub-contractors

[pmeswani]

You can claim what you like, but lunch isn't tax deductible

Based on the link from xoggoth, your statement is only true if the location is too close to home, or if you have been at a location for several years. I have been led to believe that the expense is tax deductable, but will be happy to stand corrected.