Reply to: Sustenance Allowance

[amcdonald]

Can someone confirm if this can apply to Ltd companies too?

Yes I used to advice clients to claim it. It's been £5 for years though, it never seems to go up

[pmeswani]

You don't need receipts to claim this expenditure. That's why it's is only £5 a day but it must include an overnight stay. Thats what my umbrella allow anyway.

Can someone confirm if this can apply to Ltd companies too?

[Abbeyweb]

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?

You don't need receipts to claim this expenditure. That's why it's is only £5 a day but it must include an overnight stay. Thats what my umbrella allow anyway.

[SallyPlanIT]

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.

For a limited company to pay round sum allowances it would need to have a dispensation from HMRC to agree the rates, as umbrella companies do.

That said, foreign travel can be claimed as a round sum allowance according to HMRC approved rates without having a dispensation.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

That was my confusing point.

If you have a two month contract where you work away from home so your hours are 12 hours a day.
Then you have three month contract where you work at home where your hours are 8 hours a day.
Then you have a month where you are not in contract but working from home doing things like training and chasing leads but your hours of training equal 6 hours a day.
Followed by another contract that lasts 14 months where you working away from home for 9 hours a day.

What are your normal working hours as an employee?

Hi SueEllen

I see what you mean now I think the way to consider this whole question is how would HMR&C view it. This question would be raised, for instance, when claiming for evening meals; if your contract stated that you work 9 to 5 each days and you travel from home to work then I cannot see that they would permit the cost of an evening meal as a legitimate expense. However, if you should finish at 5pm but there was a problem and you didn't finish work until 9pm then I feel that HMR&C would not see it as unreasonable to claim for the cost of a take-away. IMHO you would be hard pushed to argue with them that you should be able to claim for the cost of an evening meal every night during a 2 month contract when you finished at 7pm each night just because, in your last 3 month contract, you finished at 5pm.

[SueEllen]

So what constitutes normal working hours ?

That was my confusing point.

If you have a two month contract where you work away from home so your hours are 12 hours a day.
Then you have three month contract where you work at home where your hours are 8 hours a day.
Then you have a month where you are not in contract but working from home doing things like training and chasing leads but your hours of training equal 6 hours a day.
Followed by another contract that lasts 14 months where you working away from home for 9 hours a day.

What are your normal working hours as an employee?

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

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 ?

Yes. If your contract states that you will work 8 hours per day then that is your standard day; an exceptional day would be if you ended up working 11 hours.

[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 ?

[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?

[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.

[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

[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]

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.

[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.

[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.