Food Allowance for Self-Employed: What Can You Claim?

Self-employed professionals in the United Kingdom can claim certain food and drink costs as allowable business expenses, but strict HMRC rules apply.

Known as subsistence expenses, these costs are only deductible when incurred whilst travelling for business, working away from your usual place of business, or during client meetings.

Personal meals, such as everyday sandwiches or coffees at your home office, are generally non-deductible, due to the duality-of-purpose principle, which considers eating a personal necessity.

According to the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 (ITTOIA 2005) and HMRC guidance, valid claims require evidence of business purpose, such as receipts, travel logs, or meeting notes.

Examples include meals during overnight business trips, lunch while attending external workshops, or refreshments for on-site client consultations.

By correctly distinguishing allowable food allowances from personal expenses, self-employed individuals can optimise their Self Assessment tax returns, reduce taxable profits, and remain fully compliant with UK tax legislation.

The HMRC Cornerstone: ‘Wholly and Exclusively’

The bedrock of nearly all self-employed expense claims in the UK is the concept of ‘wholly and exclusively’.

Under Section 34 of ITTOIA 2005, an expense is only allowable for tax relief if it is incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade.

In most cases, food fails this test because its purpose is dual: it sustains the individual (a personal purpose) and enables them to work (a business purpose).

If an expense has a significant personal element, even if essential to allow the business activity to continue, it is generally disallowed.

The Duality of Purpose and Ordinary Living

The rule becomes clear when you consider ‘ordinary living’. When you work from home or your regular, fixed place of business (such as a local office or shop), the costs of your daily lunch, breakfast, or coffee are considered ordinary personal expenditure.

HMRC’s official guidance (BIM47705) explicitly states that the cost of food consumed by a trader is generally not an expense incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade.

Therefore, the daily £5 meal deal or the frequent coffee shop trip near your usual office are not tax-deductible.

The exception to this rigorous rule only arises when the self-employed person is pulled away from their regular pattern of work and incurs an additional or extraordinary expense that is entirely necessitated by the demands of the business travel.

This is where the concept of ‘subsistence’ becomes claimable.

When Does the Food Allowance for Self Employed Become Allowable? The Travel Exception

The self-employed can generally claim food and drink costs only when they are incurred as part of a temporary business trip that is outside the normal pattern of work.

These claims fall under the heading of subsistence expenses and are linked directly to business travel.

For you to answer the question, “Can you claim subsistence if you are self-employed?” with a ‘Yes’, two critical conditions must be met:

Condition A: The Journey Must Be for Business and Away from the Usual Workplace

This rule separates the commuter from the traveller. Your regular commute between your home and your fixed place of work is never allowable.

However, if you are travelling to a client’s premises, a temporary site, a conference, or a training course, this is considered temporary business travel.

Condition B: The Expense Must Be Necessitated by the Trip

The meal or drink purchased must be necessary because the individual is required to be away from their usual routine, meaning they cannot access their usual food preparation facilities.

For example, stopping at a service station for lunch is a necessary expense if you are driving 200 miles to a client’s headquarters and cannot go home for lunch.

The Two Golden Scenarios for Claiming Food

1. The Day Trip (Non-Overnight)

You Can I deduct my meals if I am self-employed? on a day trip, provided the journey is genuinely temporary, irregular, and the meal is purchased during the journey itself.

The cost must be deemed reasonable. HMRC is looking for expenses that are solely linked to the performance of the business at a temporary location, without the ‘duality of purpose’ applying.

A light lunch or an evening meal is usually allowable if the journey is exceptionally long or requires you to work significantly outside your normal hours, such as a full day’s consultation 150 miles away.

2. The Overnight Trip (The Easiest Claim)

If your business trip necessitates an overnight stay away from home, the rules are significantly clearer.

In this scenario, the cost of accommodation (hotel or B&B) and all reasonable meals, dinner on the first night, breakfast, and lunch the following day, are considered allowable subsistence costs.

This is because the entire routine of living is dictated by the business need.

The cost must still be reasonable; a £15 pub dinner is acceptable, whereas a £200 seven-course tasting menu would likely be challenged by HMRC as having an ‘extravagant’ personal benefit, even if you are staying away overnight.

You can also read our more guides on Personal Tax:

What is a Sole Proprietorship? Things You Should Know

How Much Will I Pay Tax on My Bonus in the UK?

How to Check CIS Status in the UK ?

Highest Council Tax Bands in the UK?

How to Cancel Your Marriage Allowance – A Complete Guide

Does a Second-hand Van Qualifies for AIA in the UK?

How much can I claim for meal allowance in the UK? Actual Costs vs. Simplified Expenses

This is the key question for many sole traders and partnerships. Unlike employees, who can often rely on HMRC-approved scale rates paid by their employer, self-employed individuals generally must claim the actual cost of the meals incurred.

The Actual Cost Method (The Standard Route)

Under the standard accounting method, you must:

1. Pay the full cost yourself.

2. Keep the receipt/invoice as proof (including VAT where applicable).

3. Ensure the cost is reasonable and non-extravagant.

4. Record the date, location, and specific business purpose of the trip.

This method is highly auditable and robust, fully satisfying  and providing the best evidence base for your Self Assessment.

This is often the most accurate way to calculate food allowance for self employed expenses, as it is based purely on genuine expenditure.

The Simplified Expenses Option

For sole traders and partnerships, HMRC introduced Simplified Expenses to ease the administrative burden of calculating certain costs.

Crucially, the current list of simplified expenses covers:

1. Mileage: Flat rate per mile for business travel (45p/mile for cars up to 10,000 miles).

2. Working from Home: Flat monthly rates based on hours worked.

3. Living at your business premises.

Crucially, Simplified Expenses for subsistence (food and drink) are generally NOT available to all sole traders without specific advance agreement.

HMRC has published benchmark scale rates (for example, £5 for one meal, £10 for two meals, or £25 for overnight incidental expenses) but these rates are officially intended for employers paying their employees to ensure the payment is tax-free.

While some advisors may suggest using these rates as a ‘yardstick’ for actual reasonable claims, a sole trader or partner claiming a flat-rate subsistence allowance without holding the underlying receipts and documentation is vulnerable to HMRC challenge, unless they have sought prior agreement with the tax authority.

Our professional recommendation is always to claim the actual, receipted cost of reasonable subsistence incurred during necessary business travel.

Disallowed Costs | The Common Pitfalls

Understanding what you can’t claim is just as important as knowing what you can claim. Failing to observe these rules is a primary reason for penalties during an HMRC enquiry.

Pitfall 1: Client Entertaining

A common mistake is claiming for a meal shared with a client, potential client, or supplier.

While this might feel ‘wholly and exclusively’ business-related from a commercial perspective, client entertaining expenses are specifically disallowed for Income Tax and Corporation Tax purposes by HMRC legislation (S45 ITTOIA 2005).

If you take a client out for dinner to discuss a contract, the cost of the client’s meal and your meal is not tax-deductible. This rule prevents public funds from subsidising hospitality.

There is an extremely narrow exception for staff entertaining (up to £150 per head per year), but this does not apply to entertaining clients or, crucially, the self-employed trader entertaining themselves or a partner/director of the business.

Pitfall 2: Working from Home

If you work from your home office, the cost of your groceries, snacks, and drinks consumed throughout the day is an ordinary personal expense.

You cannot claim an expense for the sandwich you make in your kitchen, even if you eat it while on a Zoom call with a major client. This falls squarely under the duality of purpose rule.

While you Can I deduct my meals if I am self-employed? while travelling, your daily working-from-home costs are a definitive ‘No’.

You can, however, claim a flat rate for use of home as office through simplified expenses (HMRC Simplified Expenses Guidance), which covers utility costs like heating and lighting, but this explicitly excludes food.

Pitfall 3: Irregular/Routine Travel

If your work requires you to visit the same client’s premises every Tuesday for six months, that location risks becoming your ‘regular’ or ‘permanent’ place of work.

Once a location is deemed ‘regular’, the travel costs (including fuel) and any associated subsistence (food) cease to be allowable. This is a crucial distinction when considering Can you claim subsistence if you are self-employed?

For travel and subsistence to be allowable, the journey must be to a temporary workplace, defined as attending a site for a period of less than 24 months, or when the time spent there is less than 40% of the individual’s working time.

What benefits can I claim if I am self-employed beyond Food ?

While the focus keyword is the food allowance for self employed, it is vital to contextualise this within the broader landscape of tax deductions available to sole traders.

HMRC allows a vast array of expenses to be claimed, provided they meet the ‘wholly and exclusively’ test.

Understanding the full scope of allowable expenses is arguably the most beneficial aspect of being self-employed, far outweighing the limited scope of subsistence claims.

Here is a summary of key allowable expenses, providing a holistic answer to “What benefits can I claim if I am self-employed?”:

By ensuring all legitimate allowable expenses are claimed, the overall reduction in taxable profit often far exceeds any potential relief gained from subsistence claims alone.

HMRC Rules for Claiming Food Expenses

The rules for claiming a food allowance for self-employed individuals are defined by HMRC. You can only claim for meals if they are:

• Purchased during a business journey that is not part of your regular routine (i.e. not your normal place of work)
• Associated with a temporary travel assignment
• Incurred during an overnight stay for business purposes

These conditions ensure the expenses are related to your business activity and not part of your personal lifestyle.

Advanced Scenarios and Specific Queries on Food Allowance for Self Employed

To truly demonstrate, we must address specific, complex scenarios that frequently arise for UK sole traders.

Overseas Business Travel

If your business takes you abroad, the same rules apply: all costs must be ‘wholly and exclusively’ for the trade.

• Flights and Accommodation: Fully allowable.

• Meals: Reasonable costs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are allowable while away. However, note that if the trip is combined with a personal holiday (a common practice), you must scrupulously apportion the costs. For instance, if you stay for 10 days, but only 4 days are spent conducting business, only 40% of the flight and hotel costs, plus the food costs incurred on those 4 business days, are deductible.

Training Courses

If you attend a professional training course to enhance your existing business skills (e.g., a software developer attending a new programming language course), the course fee is allowable.

If the course is held away from your usual workplace, any necessary accommodation and associated food costs are also allowable subsistence expenses.

However, if the course is about starting a new trade or acquiring a new skill, it may be deemed a capital expense and disallowed, making the associated subsistence disallowed too.

The Director/Sole Trader Meal Trap (Specific Answer to Can I deduct my meals if I am self-employed?)

A common misconception for those who incorporate (become a Limited Company Director) is that their position makes all meals claimable. This is false.

A director of a limited company is an employee of that company, and their subsistence claims are governed by the rules for temporary workplaces (EIM31800).

If you are a sole trader (which is what food allowance for self employed usually refers to), you are not an employee. The rules are even stricter: your entitlement to subsistence is entirely reliant on the travel rules discussed in Section 2.

Can I deduct my meals if I am self-employed? Yes, but only when you are travelling for business away from your usual routine, and the cost is reasonable and necessary due to the travel. If you are not travelling, the answer is unequivocally no.

Can you claim subsistence if you are self-employed?

Yes, you Can you claim subsistence if you are self-employed?, provided the expense is incurred:

1. While undertaking necessary business travel.

2. Away from your normal place of work.

3. To a temporary workplace.

4. As a reasonable cost necessitated by the trip.

If you are merely working later than usual at your home office, that meal is not allowable. If you are at a client site for a week and must buy dinner, it is allowable.

How much can I claim for meal allowance in the UK? (Revisiting the Numbers)

While HMRC does not provide fixed scale rates for self-employed individuals to use without receipts, prudence dictates that your claims should align with what the tax authority considers ‘reasonable’ for employees.

If claiming actual costs, aiming for modest, non-extravagant expenditure is crucial. For guidance, the 2024/25 HMRC benchmark rates for employees can serve as a sanity check for reasonableness, though you must still have the receipt for the actual cost:

• One meal (5-hour absence): approx. £5.00

• Two meals (10-hour absence): approx. £10.00

• Late evening meal (after 8 pm, 10-hour absence): approx. £15.00

If your receipted costs significantly exceed these figures for basic meals, prepare robust justification. The best approach to knowing How much can I claim for meal allowance in the UK? is to retain receipts for the actual, minimum cost required to sustain you during the business trip.

What You Can and Cannot Claim

Here’s a simplified overview of what you can and cannot claim under the food allowance for self-employed:

Eligible	Not Eligible
Meals during overnight business stays	Lunch at home
Food during one-off, irregular business travel	Meals during your normal working day
Food at trade fairs, conferences, or exhibitions	Personal snacks or coffee

Remember, the key phrase is “wholly and exclusively for business purposes.”

Staying Compliant with HMRC

Making a successful claim for the food allowance for self-employed individuals means adhering strictly to HMRC’s guidelines. Here are some best practices:

• Keep receipts: Always keep proof of purchase for food and drink.
• Record the purpose: Log the reason for the trip and the business nature of the expense.
• Be consistent: Avoid making frequent claims that could look like personal expenditure.

If you’re unsure whether a food expense qualifies, it’s best to consult with an accountant or tax advisor.

💡 Need a quick estimate of your taxes after deducting food expenses? Use our Listen to Taxman Calculator for instant results.

The Bottom Line

Remember that while claiming food is complex, claiming other expenses, providing a substantial answer to “What benefits can I claim if I am self-employed?” through deductions for equipment, travel, and professional services, is straightforward and highly impactful.

A proactive approach to expense management ensures you reap the maximum tax efficiency available to UK self-employed individuals.

If you have complex travel patterns, seeking professional advice from a UK Chartered Accountant is always the safest and most profitable long-term strategy.

The correct application of the rules surrounding the food allowance for self employed ensures you remain fully compliant while optimising your financial position.