Meals and subsistence

Depends

Everyday meals are a personal cost: eating is something everyone does, working or not. HMRC allows reasonable food and drink costs in three situations. First, when a trip keeps you away overnight. Second, when the journey is occasional and outside your normal working pattern. Third, when the trade itself is itinerant, meaning you travel from place to place rather than working from a settled base. In each case the travel itself must qualify as a business journey, and you claim the actual reasonable cost with receipts.

Common questions

I work on different sites every day and buy lunch nearby. Is it deductible?

It depends on your pattern. If varied sites are simply your normal routine from a settled base, everyday lunch is a personal cost. If your trade is genuinely itinerant, travelling place to place with no settled base, HMRC allows reasonable food and drink where the travel itself is deductible. An occasional job well outside your normal patch also qualifies.

I was away overnight for a job and needed to eat. Can I claim?

Yes. Meals during an overnight work trip away from home are deductible, whether or not they are on the hotel bill. Keep your receipts and claim the actual reasonable cost.

I took a one-off job 150 miles away and bought lunch on the road. Claimable?

Yes. An occasional business journey outside your normal pattern qualifies, and reasonable food and drink on that trip is deductible along with the travel.

Watch out for

HMRC does not publish flat-rate meal allowances for the self-employed. Standard daily rates apply only to employers paying employees, not to sole traders. Claim actual costs.
Client entertainment (taking a client out for a meal) is not deductible, even if you hope to win business from it.
The costs must be reasonable. A working dinner is one thing; HMRC can challenge a lavish one.

Common mistakes

Claiming every workday lunch. The everyday meal near your normal patch stays personal, whatever the job that day.
Claiming a client meal as subsistence. Entertainment is specifically not deductible.

Cash basis vs traditional accounting

Where a meal qualifies, it is a day-to-day expense on both methods, deducted in the period you paid.

HMRC's meal and subsistence guidance can change. Verify before filing.

HMRC sources

https://www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed/travel https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/business-income-manual/bim47705 https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/business-income-manual/bim37670

Last verified: August 2026 · Tax year 2026/27

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This guidance is for general information only. Tax rules change. Verify with HMRC or a qualified accountant before filing.

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