I am a landlord. I am currently renovating one of my houses. As I am also full time employed I work 2 evenings a week and all day Saturday renovating.
Can I claim subsistance when I am, renovating, I note HMRC Brief 24/2009 says £5 for Breakfast/One Meal, 2 Meal Rate £10 and Evening meal rate £15. But is says for employees.
you are only eating the same food that you would have eaten had you not been on business therefore the food is not consumed wholely, neccessarily and exclusively for the purpose of the business.
kind regards,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
you are only eating the same food that you would have eaten had you not been on business therefore the food is not consumed wholely, neccessarily and exclusively for the purpose of the business.
kind regards,
Shaun.
How come in my full time job I can claim subsistance during business travel from my employer. Say I work late I can claim £15 for an evening meal. You could equally argue I would have eaten the same food either way.
I would argue in both cases had I of been at home I would have shared a family meal, say £3 each, but as I was away working I had to get a takeaway at £15. Whats the difference?
Unfortunately you have to work within the tax system not simply go away and invent your own (even though there are quite a few changes that we all know could do with being made to it).
For information as to the case law for this see :
See Caillebotte v Quinn (1975)
The self employed taxpayer in question who was a carpenter was held to have eaten the meal because he was a human being, not because he was a carpenter.
Basically it fails the duality of purpose test.
I can see HMRC's take on this then they throw a spanner in the works by allowing employee's to be treated differently!
Personal view is that it should either be neither or both but, we work to what is, not what we would like to be.
kind regards,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I was able to claim subsistence for a Musician who had to drive home after a gig early in the morning as his drum kit was not covered by the insurance if it was left anywhere unaccompanied (Hotels would not let him store them in his room), so he could not use overnight accommadation even though it was often available. My grounds were that his work was of a transient nature and the amounts involved where not excessive. HMRC weren't happy, but agreed it in the end.
-- Edited by YLB-HO on Friday 8th of March 2013 11:11:49 AM
but that case could be considered more of a dispensation than a general rule.
I think in this instance where the taxpayer is looking to claim subsistence whilst renovating rental properties that do not require him to stay away from home overnight he's not going to be able to convince HMRC to be at all flexible in their approach whereas in your case I can actually see the merit of that one.... I don't think that HMRC are ever actually happy no matter how sound the case, lol.
kind regards,
Shaun.
p.s. amended for spelling only (so obvious that even I spotted the errors... But not until after hitting the submit button!).
-- Edited by Shamus on Friday 8th of March 2013 11:21:52 AM
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
