Can a subcontractor claim for food/drink?

There seems to be some extremely conflicting advice online as to what to put on the self assessment

Didn't find your answer?

My husband is a self employed subcontracted roofer. I am assuming his main place of work would be the 'yard' as he doesn't have a single place that he works at longer than any other. He is away from the home/work for around 10-12 hours a day (often visiting 2 or 3 sites around the southeast of England per day) and buys breakfast and lunch whilst out. 

I have found varied information regarding claiming the tax back on this. From what I can tell, it's either 

A) he can claim the 2 meal allowance of £10 a day. 

B) he can claim everything he has receipts for (basically £2000 of mainly McDonalds/subway/fuel station sandwiches - not exactly nutritious but convenient I suppose) 

C) he can claim £5 a day breakfast allowance as he leaves before 6am 

Or D) He's self employed and needs to eat regardless of being at work or home so can claim nothing. 

I hope someone can clear this up. Thankyou. 

Replies (8)

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By Tim Vane
24th Apr 2019 19:06

What tax is he intending to claim back and from whom is he intending to claim it?

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By ElishaT
24th Apr 2019 19:34

Apologies, I hadnt realised that my question was unclear. I meant for the purpose of submitting a self assessment to HMRC.

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panda ketteringUK
By ketteringUK
24th Apr 2019 19:07

why won't you let the professionals do his tax return. I'm fairly sure that the £200-£250 will be reimbursed many times over by us doing the job?

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By ElishaT
24th Apr 2019 19:47

Most likely it would, however, I have contacted several accountants in my area so far. One is currently too busy to add to their clientele, two have told me that they are unsure as to the answer to my above question (asked because i didnt know if it was worth handing them a huge amount of potentially 'unclaimable' receipts and the last one quite rudely demanded that my husband decide immediately between claiming his travel expenses (fuel, maintenance etc) as flat rates or actual costs and then refused to explain the difference to him.
After looking online at the hmrc manuals and reading through the rules and regulations for each section, as well as looking through my previous submissions that were completed by a qualified accountant, I realised that its actually all written out for people to see themselves as long as they can understand it. So I decided to do it myself this time. The substinence part was the only section that seems a little bit of a grey area dependant upon interpretation.

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By ketteringUK
24th Apr 2019 20:01

You should be aiming to look at practitioners without 'gold plated plaques' on their door [my apologies if i offended anyone]. Besides, you don't necessary have to be located near your accountant. Nowadays the technology allows video calls, e-signatures, etc.

There are fair amount of accountants with experience, starting their own practice that would take CIS returns on. It's not exactly the most profitable work, if you know what i mean, especially with the AML checks and admin required for one-off £200 per year. We still do this - The way we see it - April/May work pays our rent for the year, some new equipment. But we are very efficient. It's the team work that allows us to charge less but still maintains certain amount of profits.

You DOH is a roofer - i'm sure his mates have some recommendations. If not then PM me and will sort him out good.

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By ElishaT
24th Apr 2019 22:29

Im not exactly sure why I was only looking in my area for an accountant to be honest. Force of habit I suppose.
My husbands mates are useless. We have one that is happy with the £300 he got by getting an accountant 'friend' to do it and a couple that do it themselves. Worryingly few of the rest seem to do one at all.
Thankyou. I've messaged you.

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By Wall1690
25th Apr 2019 16:54

D - unless he's staying overnight on a business trip.

HMRC manual BIM 376675 & 66210

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By ElishaT
25th Apr 2019 18:42

Thankyou so much

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