Tax free subsistence

What are the rules? How much can your company give you tax free for food?

Not sure if its standard but I got £5 if out of the yard for 5 to 9h59m and £10 10 hours and over.
I had to submit receipts and got a lump tax free sum back at pay day.

hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/eim66130.htm

Thanks for the link. I got to that point also. Seems to suggest that 75% of the full amount (£34.90) would be deemed acceptable. That would mean that tax free subsistence could be as much as £26.17. Begs the question that instead of having parking with a meal voucher it may be better to offer a meal voucher for say £20 with free parking. I’m no tax expert (obviously) but it does need a closer look. I’ll have our guys check the legalities.

MotisFSA:
Thanks for the link. I got to that point also. Seems to suggest that 75% of the full amount (£34.90) would be deemed acceptable. That would mean that tax free subsistence could be as much as £26.17. Begs the question that instead of having parking with a meal voucher it may be better to offer a meal voucher for say £20 with free parking. I’m no tax expert (obviously) but it does need a closer look. I’ll have our guys check the legalities.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the tax free subsistence (aka night out money ) is meant to be used for paying for parking !

I take your point. But there appears to be a loophole… £20 parking (taxable) with a £5 meal voucher (tax free) seems to be the norm (there or thereabouts). Why not have £20 meal voucher (tax free) with free parking. Seems to depend on how you dress it up. The amount of money is the same but the tax isn’t. Obviously we are not attempting to evade or break the law but it does seem a little loose. I’m getting a legal opinion on it, basically to satisfy my own curiosity.

Will keep you updated via the forum.

MotisFSA:
Thanks for the link. I got to that point also. Seems to suggest that 75% of the full amount (£34.90) would be deemed acceptable. That would mean that tax free subsistence could be as much as £26.17.

Very close, it’s £26.18 as the exact amount is £26.175 and you can round up anything that ends in a 5. Meal allowance is £2 per day as I understand it. At least, that’s what I work to.

Parking is a different matter altogether though, I imagine that if you did give a meal voucher up to the full amount of the cost of parking, HMRC would view this as a disguised benefit in kind and take a dim view of it, although this really is an area for an accountant to look at.