Employee Subsistence Payments Not Reimbursed by Employer

M

manninp2

Registered User
Messages
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A friend of mine has been working for a MNC for the past 4 years.

His job involves regularly travelling away from the office for part of the working day to clients sites.

His employer reimburses his travel expenses, so that's fine.

However, he has to keep detailed records of all of his appointments, which he has meticulously kept in an Excel file for the past 4 years.

He has to detail the time he leaves the office and the time he returns, to the minute!

He was grumbling about having to pay for lunch and I told him about IT54 and Employee Subsistence payments if you work 5+ hours off-site in a day. He ran a quick calculation on his Excel spreadsheet and figured out that he has worked 673 days over the last 4 years where he spent 5+ hours away from the office.

Is he entitled to claim subsistence payments of €13.71/day for those 673 days?

His employer told him to PFO, I think he may have a claim? Advice appreciated.
 
What does his contract of employment say?

In any event the revenue figure is merely an upper limit above which any subsistence payments are liable to income tax.
 

His expenses have already been covered.
Is he looking to make a profit on his travel?
 
IT51 covers mileage (travel expenses) and IT54 covers subsistence expenses so they are separate and distinct matters.
 
His travel expenses are covered and are not the subject of this question.

It is his subsistence expenses that are not covered.

There is no mention of it in his contract and his employer will not entertain direct reimbursement.

From my reading of IT54 it looks like he can submit a claim to Revenue against the PAYE he has paid.
 

From IT54:
"In practice, two scenarios will generally arise as regards
subsistence -
(a) the employer does not reimburse the employee; or (b) the employer reimburses the employee, in respect of the cost of the subsistance when the employee performs the duties of his/her employment whilst temporarily away from his his/her normal place of work (or is working abroad on a foreign assignment).​


As regards (a), an employee may claim a tax deduction in respect of the cost of subsistence expenses necessarily incurred when the employee performs the duties of his/her employment whilst temporarily away from his/her normal place of work (or is working abroad on a foreign assignment) by submitting a claim to his/her Revenue office."


So if he hasn't been reimbursed by his employer he would be entitled to make a claim on his form 12. He'll have to have documentation to support his claim though, since he might have been having the same packed lunch off-site that he would've had on-site...

I presume he won't have such documentation, so he might want to make contact with his tax office, explain the situation and agree an amount with them.​
 
mandelbrot said:
he might have been having the same packed lunch off-site that he would've had on-site...
Click to expand...

That's the crux of his complaint, there's a heavily subsidised canteen in the office but he has to make or buy his lunch 3 days a week
 
manninp2 said:
That's the crux of his complaint, there's a heavily subsidised canteen in the office but he has to make or buy his lunch 3 days a week
Click to expand...

Well as I said, he can make a claim, but in the absence of having documentary evidence of the outlay incurred, if it were me I'd try to find someone reasonable in the tax office and agree an amount with them for the back years, and start retaining receipts going forward for further claims.
 
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