using P87 to claim lunch

mambo69

I work in an office and provide my own lunch, some one has just told me i can claim tax relief to around £500 per year for this, but that sounds way to simple


Is this correct?

CLAPTON

no it's not correct
you have to pay for your own lunch

mambo69

I realise i have to pay for it but can i claim tax relief? or would that be more for truckers etc who work on the road only?

FatAndy

"Allowable expenses

You can only get tax relief for allowable expenses. Expenses are allowable if they're for the cost of:

• travelling you had to do whilst doing your job
• other expenses you had to pay whilst doing your job - and which related only to doing your job"

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/how-to-get.htm

Basically the cost of lunch isn't work related as presumably you'd still eat lunch at home if you had a day off.

You can usually claim for meals if you're on a business trip but not if you're sat in the office.

PlutoinCapricorn

People who work 'normally' e.g. go to the same office every day can't claim for lunch - or travel costs or dry cleaning/laundering their clothes for that matter.

People on the move or those sent to conferences for example may be able to get their expenses reimbursed by their employer or get tax relief on them from HMRC.

mambo69

Lady in the office submitted her claim and has now received a cheque for £300 and had her tac code altered to allow for an extra £500 before tax

Am i right to think that at some point Mr Taxman will realise that she goes to the same office every day and send her a letter saying oops sorry and by the way you owe us £xxx please send a cheque?

Mikeyorks

mambo69 wrote: »

and by the way you owe us £xxx please send a cheque?

It will be for £xxx plus £xxx ...... for the penalties for submitting a false claim.

chmod777

I'm struggling to find a definitive and clear answer for what I can claim tax relief for. My employment contract says I am a mobile worker with no permanent place of work. So if I go to my company's HQ for a meeting, can I claim for travel and can I claim for lunch - assuming my employer does not reimburse me for those expenses?

And, if I go away from home - where my employer pays my travel, hotel and evening meal expenses - can I claim relief for lunch, which is not reimbursed by the company?

The HMRC website is not very clear, perhaps on purpose?!

Thanks to anyone that can shed some light!

chmod777

jimmo

Whilst your employment contract says you are a mobile worker with no permanent place of work the first test is whether your employment contract reflects reality.

At one extreme, if you go to your company’s HQ every working day then, regardless of your employment contract, that is almost certainly a permanent workplace for tax purposes.

On the other hand, if you go to your company’s HQ once a month, or less frequently, it is unlikely to be a permanent workplace for tax purposes.

Then, I would suggest, you should wonder why your employer does not pay your travelling expenses for such journeys.

As regards lunches the tax question is whether lunch is a part and parcel of a business journey. If it is, and your employer doesn’t pay, you can claim tax relief.

chmod777

Thanks for that. I can safely say that going to the head office is a rare occurrence for me.

The question I need to answer then is whether lunch (and coffee in the car on the way to the hotel!) is a valid.