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Our firm acts for several hauliers who, between them, have a mixture of practices for expense payments as follows.
- Employees are paid anything between £5 and £10 per day for subsistence for working away (to cover breakfast, lunch or dinner, as some hours are unsociable).
- A deduction is similarly claimed for self-employed hauliers on the same basis.
Our firm acts for several hauliers who, between them, have a mixture of practices for expense payments as follows.
- Employees are paid anything between £5 and £10 per day for subsistence for working away (to cover breakfast, lunch or dinner, as some hours are unsociable).
- A deduction is similarly claimed for self-employed hauliers on the same basis.
- Overnight allowances are paid in accordance with the trade association.
Are all drivers allowed a standard amount for 'subsistence' if they are on the road all day? Does it depend on the shifts worked, and do these and any overnight allowances need to be agreed with the Revenue first?
(Query T16,553) — Laurie.
Undoubtedly, the only satisfactory procedure is to agree a scale of allowances with the Revenue, so that excess payments can be brought into charge to tax while full advantage is taken of permissible levels. This can be done by applying for a dispensation notice, of which the bare outlines are described in the Inland Revenue leaflet IR69.
Some practical comments from a reader appeared in the 'Feedback' column in Taxation, 5 February 2004, page 426. There is a saying 'comparisons are odious' which is relevant here, despite the existence of some published guidance from working rule agreements for particular areas of industry.
Scales of expenses for travel should be capable of being established by analysis of the facts in particular patterns of activity. What may cause greater difficulty is to resolve subsistence claims. Reference is recommended to Revenue Interpretation 51 (Tax Bulletin 8, August 1993), which noted court decisions suggesting that the human necessity of eating precluded relief for subsistence. However, the Interpretation stated 'we have long accepted reasonable claims for the cost of evening meals and breakfast taken in conjunction with overnight accommodation'. This remark was applied particularly to long distance self-employed lorry drivers, with an extension to such drivers who spent the night in their cabs.
One suspects that white collar workers obtain relatively more generous treatment. See, for example, rates for Revenue staff published in the 'Loose Ends' column of Taxation, 26 April 2001, page 24. Laurie could try contacting relevant trade associations.
