Subsistence: how to claim meals when travelling for business

When you are away from your normal workplace on a qualifying business journey and buy a meal, the company can reimburse you tax-free, and the cost is an allowable deduction for Corporation Tax. Day-to-day lunches at or near your regular workplace do not qualify, because you would have eaten regardless of where you worked. As a director, you are an employee of your company for tax purposes, so the same rules apply to you.

There are two ways to claim, and you can pick whichever suits each trip:

Method 1: HMRC benchmark scale rates

These are fixed amounts the company can pay you without working out your exact spend: £5 for trips over 5 hours, £10 over 10 hours, and £25 over 15 hours where the journey runs past 8pm. You don't need a receipt for the full amount, only evidence that the journey qualified and that you spent something on a meal. The company must still keep evidence the trip was genuine business travel.

Method 2: Actual cost

Alternatively, the company can reimburse what you actually spent. This usually makes sense where your meal cost more than the benchmark rate. Here you do need to keep the receipt for the full amount, and the cost should be reasonable.

In practice, many directors use the benchmark rate for small spends and claim the actual cost, with a receipt, when a meal exceeds the rate.

Subsistence vs entertainment

Subsistence is food for yourself during a business trip. Entertainment is food or drink provided to clients. Only subsistence is allowable for Corporation Tax. Entertainment is blocked. When you eat alone during a business trip, it is subsistence. When a client joins you, it becomes entertainment.

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