The tax rules for travel & subsistence in connection with a temporary place of employment are very generous and should be taken advantage of whenever possible.
Firstly, lets look at the definition of a temporary workplace.
- the duration of employment must be expected to last less than 24 months (expected duration rather than actual duration is the operative word);
- you must have other places of work during your employment that amount to at least 60% of your total employment time
If you are a contractor and director of your own company then you could argue that your employment is based at home (where your company is based) and that you have a series of temporary work places at your clients’ offices. If these are expected to last less than 2 years (and often they are only initially 3 or 6 months in duration) then you have met both of the above conditions.
Once over this hurdle, you can then claim all your travel costs and any food, lodgings etc while you are ‘away’ from you permanent workplace (aka your home).
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That’s good news. I’m a performer and in my business it’s very common to get perdiems when I travel. Often i have to pay for food and lodging out of my own fee. I always keep receipts, however is it possible to claim a blanket daily perdiem (subsistence) rate on my self assessment rather than keep every little receipt?
how does this affect you if you are tax registered? also can you claim a flat rate? or does everything need individual receipts (not always possible).
It is only possible to claim a round sum allowance if this has been agreed in advance with the Taxman (which he is not guaranteed to do!).
Sometimes you cannot get receipts, e.g. from a drinks vending machine but if you keep good records of how much you spent and when and it all looks reasonable you should be okay. Obviously, keep receipts wherever possible though.
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