Can a sole trader claim mileage and subsistence?

Well, I had to travel to the country yesterday for a job. I'm a sole trader and used my own car as I do for all travel. I bought a sandwich for lunch while I was down there.

So, if an employee is allowed claim subsistence rates for being away from the office, and mileage rates for using a personal car and lunch expenses for costs incurred, then why can't sole traders?

I understand that I can claim a certain amount of the cost of running my car when doing my year-end accounts but jeez, who's gonna argue with me over a tenner for lunch? Surely that's an expense as I would not have had to pay it if I was not on the job.
 
ButtermilkJa said:
So, if an employee is allowed claim subsistence rates for being away from the office, and mileage rates for using a personal car and lunch expenses for costs incurred, then why can't sole traders?
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Ask Brian Cowen, or maybe your local TD or councillor.

You have pinpointed one of the most glaring anomalies in our tax system.
 
Although I hear in today's news they're trying to abolish PAYE credits. So maybe they're not really out to get sole traders... they're out to get everyone! :mad:

It's very frustrating. When I told people I was going self-employed, all they could say was... 'Wow, you're going to be able to claim for everything'. Every day I seem to find out I can claim for less and less.
 
Agree, expenses have to be "wholly and necessarily incurred" in the performance of the business - therefore eating is not incurred in the performance and therefore not allowable.
 
The definitive answer: [broken link removed] page 23:
"This article concerns deductions allowable in computing profits for tax purposes in respect of food and subsistence expenses of self-employed individuals. The treatment of employees’ (including directors’) subsistence expenses is dealt with in Leaflet IT 54.
Cost of Meals
It is a long established principle that the cost of meals taken at the place of business are not allowable expenses for tax purposes. In addition, expenses incurred on meals consumed away from the place of business are, in general, not wholly and exclusively laid out for the purposes of the trade or profession since everyone must eat in order to live. *****Where such costs are not allowable they may not be apportioned***** to allow extra costs incurred from the necessity of eating away from home or from the place of business.
Costs of meals may be incurred wholly and exclusively for business purposes where a business by its nature involves travelling (for example, in the case of self-employed long distance lorry drivers) or where occasional business journeys outside the normal pattern are made. A reasonable level of expenses incurred in these circumstances may be deducted from business profits.
Where a business trip necessitates one or more nights away from home, reasonable accommodation costs incurred while away from home may be deducted. The cost of meals taken in conjunction with overnight accommodation may also be deducted. Where self-employed long distance lorry drivers spend the night in their cabs rather than taking overnight accommodation, the costs incurred on their meals may be deducted.
It is important to note that only expenses actually incurred and for which receipts are available may be claimed. Receipts must be retained for production in the course of a Revenue audit of the business. "

As two negatives make a positive, Where such costs are allowable they may be apportioned to allow extra costs incurred - so they sometimes are allowable!
 
Gordanus said:
The definitive answer: [broken link removed] page 23:

...Costs of meals may be incurred wholly and exclusively for business purposes where a business by its nature involves travelling (for example, in the case of self-employed long distance lorry drivers) or where occasional business journeys outside the normal pattern are made. A reasonable level of expenses incurred in these circumstances may be deducted from business profits....
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So does this mean a day trip to the country on a site-visit is an 'occasional business journey outside the normal pattern' for someone who works from home 9-5 mon-fri?

God it gets more confusing all the time :D
 
ButtermilkJa said:
Well, I had to travel to the country yesterday for a job. I'm a sole trader and used my own car as I do for all travel. I bought a sandwich for lunch while I was down there.
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The logical thing has to be to claim the difference between a self-made sandwich and the bought one, because by doing your job you are not in your normal place of work where you can make a sandwich up at the cost of 50c, that being the cost that's neccessary for you to live, however the premium has been incurred solely because of you had to travel for work (and obviously no-one likes soggy tomato sandwiches).
 
Glenbhoy said:
The logical thing has to be to claim the difference between a self-made sandwich and the bought one
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The distinction is hilarious - you can bring your home-made sambos to work if working in your usual office, but go elsewhere to work and you'll have to buy some. Anyway, how much does a home-made sambo cost? Anyone like to hazard a guess? (Bearing in mind that while some of us are sliced pan, others are ciabatta, and - well, my gran bakes the soda bread and gives it to me.)
 
I've always found this a pain to track motor expenses in real life, as I kept loosing the sheets, forgetting to record the mileage etc.

So I finally bit the bullet and decided to design a Motor Travel Expense tracking spreadsheet using Google Docs,

By using Google Docs its available to me anywhere I have internet access (i.e my laptop) and my expenses are calculated in real time as a running total.

The spreadsheet automatically changes the rate depending on the amount of km's travelled (over 6437km per annum and the allowance rate changes).

So at the end of the month, everything is neatly calculated and recorded as per the revenue's guidelines.

I spent ages looking for a decent solution on the web and finally decided I needed to 'roll my own'. If anyone would like a copy of this spreadsheet, I'll be happy to share this with you. PM me if you want a copy.

Regards,
Martin C.
http://www.techielive.com
 
Follow up: I was audited by the revenue last year. Started with a few questions on whether I owned any racehorses or yaughts, and what kind of a car I drive and how big is my house. (No boats or racehorses, a 10 yr old small car, average 2 bed house for those of you who think sole traderdom is enriching). OUT went any lunch claims, OUT went tea & coffee for the office. If I take a client to dinner (v rarely) I can claim for his lunch, but not mine.
 
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