Where a contractor is working away from home, rents a room and either cooks their own breakfast/lunchtime/evening meals or buys these at Cafes/restaurants are these deductible?
Or are only the evening meals deductible?
If so, on what basis?
The contract is less than 2 years and meets all the other deductibilty criteria.
John
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Replies (3)
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Subsistence
All reasonable meal costs are claimable as subsistence as long as they are sandwiched between two claimable business journeys.
Hotel rooms are also claimable, as are rented houses/apartments as long as they are used like a hotel.
NeilW
Don't forget the PIEs !
Personal Incidental Expenses are additoionally claimable regarding stays away from home by employees.
The rate I think is £5 per night (UK) and £10 per night (outside UK). If the client is a sole trader or partnership not strictly allowable as a deduction (unless paid to employees but not proprietor or partner), but if a limited company the stated rates could be paid tax free to the worker / director.
PIEs need receipts
You can only pay PIEs if you have the receipts to cover it. A PIE is a payment for an employee that is not strictly allowable under the Taxes Act, but will be ignored if part of an overnight stay. It is designed to stop employers having to extract the cost of a newspaper from a hotel bill.
It is most certainly not £5 in the back pocket whatever the weather.