A self employed person cannot normally claim the cost of their own meals, because everyone has to eat whether or not they work. Section 57A ITTOIA 2005 allows reasonable food and drink costs only where the journey itself is deductible and either the trade is by its nature itinerant or the trip is occasional and outside the normal pattern of travel. Meals taken with business overnight accommodation are also allowed.

Why can’t I claim my lunch when I am working?

The starting point is the wholly and exclusively test in section 34 ITTOIA 2005. HMRC’s Business Income Manual at BIM47705 says the cost of food and drink consumed by a trader is not in general an expense incurred wholly and exclusively for the trade, since everyone must eat in order to live. It is, wholly or partly, a normal cost of living.

The leading case is Caillebotte v Quinn [1975] 50 TC 222, summarised at BIM37660. Mr Quinn was a self employed carpenter working on sites within a 40 mile radius of his home. He could not go home for lunch, so he bought one at about 40 pence instead of the 10 pence a light lunch at home would have cost, and claimed the difference. Templeman J refused it. A taxpayer must eat in order to live; he does not eat in order to work. The fact that Mr Quinn claimed only the extra cost showed the duality of purpose that was fatal to the claim.

BIM47705 also says that where meal costs are disallowable they cannot be apportioned to allow the extra cost of eating away from home. There is no identifiable business part of a sandwich. For the general principle, see the wholly and exclusively rule.

What does section 57A actually say?

Section 57A ITTOIA 2005 gives a statutory deduction for any reasonable expenses on food or drink consumed by the trader at a place they travel to in the course of the trade, or while travelling there, if two conditions are met.

  • Condition A: a deduction is allowed for the cost of travelling to the place, or would be allowed if the trader had paid for the travel.
  • Condition B: either the trade is by its nature itinerant when the food or drink is bought, or the trader does not travel to the place more than occasionally and the trip is outside the trader’s normal pattern of travel (or the trader has no normal pattern).

The section was inserted by the Enactment of Extra Statutory Concessions Order 2009 (SI 2009/730), turning an HMRC concession into law. BIM47705 notes that the guidance applies for Income Tax only, which is a reminder that it is a rule for sole traders and partners, not companies.

Condition A links meals to the travel rules. If the journey is a commute to a regular place of business, the travel is not deductible, so Condition A fails and no meal on that journey can qualify. The travel rules are explained in travel expenses for the self employed.

Which trades count as itinerant?

BIM37670 gives commercial travellers as the example of a trade that is by its nature itinerant: the trader moves continually from place to place to do the work, rather than going to a fixed base. Where the trade is itinerant, reasonable meal costs on business journeys can be claimed under the first limb of Condition B.

Not every trader who works at different sites qualifies. HMRC’s subcontractor guidance at BIM37675 still treats Caillebotte v Quinn as the authority for disallowing a subcontractor’s lunches where there is a regular work pattern involving travel to different sites within a narrow radius of home. In HMRC’s view, a local tradesperson who goes out to a site every working day and buys lunch is in the same position as anyone else who eats during the working day. The question is whether the business itself is itinerant in character, not whether the trader happens to eat away from home.

The same guidance also warns that where a subcontractor works at one site, or travels each day to one depot, that place may be the business base. Travel to it then fails Condition A, and meals bought there follow.

What is the occasional journey test?

The second limb of Condition B helps traders who have a fixed base and a settled routine. A meal is allowable if the trader does not travel to the place more than occasionally, and the journey is outside the normal pattern of travel in the trade. A trader with no normal pattern of travel can also rely on it.

A trip to a supplier across the country once a year will usually qualify. Weekly visits to the same client, even if they involve a long drive, are likely to become part of the normal pattern, and meals on those trips will not qualify.

Illustration only. Priya is a self employed hairdresser who works in her own salon five days a week. In March she drives to a trade exhibition 150 miles away, the only time that year she goes there, and buys lunch for £12. The travel is deductible, she goes there no more than occasionally, and the trip is outside her normal pattern, so the £12 is allowable under section 57A. The sandwich she buys most days near the salon is not.

Can I claim meals on overnight business trips?

Yes. BIM47705 and BIM37670 say that where a business trip requires one or more nights away from home, hotel accommodation and reasonable overnight subsistence are deductible. The reasonable cost of meals taken in conjunction with that accommodation is allowable, whether or not it is paid on the same bill. GOV.UK lists hotel rooms and meals on overnight business trips among allowable travel costs for sole traders and partners.

HMRC adds two refinements. First, self employed long distance lorry drivers who spend the night in their cabs rather than a hotel can be treated in the same way. Second, the relief does not cover accommodation and subsistence at the base of the trade, even if a contract requires the trader to live in a particular place. BIM37670 cites Mason v Tyson [1980] 53 TC 333, where a surveyor’s costs of a flat above his office, used when he worked late, were disallowed, and Prior v Saunders [1993] 66 TC 210, where a ceiling fixer working in London for several years could not deduct his food or the rent on his London accommodation.

For trips abroad, Statement of Practice A16 (reproduced at BIM47710) says the personal living costs of a UK resident trader who is abroad for the purposes of the trade will not be disallowed. Living expenses include accommodation, food and drink attributable to the trader. Costs attributable to an accompanying family and holidays taken during the trip are not allowed.

What about working lunches, meetings and client meals?

A meal does not become deductible because business is discussed over it. In Watkis v Ashford, Sparkes and Harward [1985] 58 TC 468 (BIM37925), a firm of solicitors held regular lunchtime partners’ meetings and evening meetings over dinner, at which only firm business was discussed. Nourse J disallowed the food and drink because it was taken at times when the partners would have eaten lunch or dinner anyway. The cost of the firm’s residential annual conference, by contrast, was allowed because the overnight stay was needed so that discussion could continue between sessions.

Buying a meal for a client or supplier is a separate question. Hospitality for anyone other than your own staff is caught by the business entertainment ban, whatever the business reason. See business entertainment and client gifts.

Does this apply to company directors?

No. A director of a limited company is an employee for tax purposes, and GOV.UK confirms that someone who runs a limited company is not self employed even if they are the owner and only employee. Section 57A and the BIM guidance in this article apply to sole traders and partners. Subsistence paid or reimbursed to directors and staff is governed by the employment income rules in ITEPA 2003, including the exemption for amounts that would otherwise be deductible and payments at a benchmark rate, covered in HMRC’s Employment Income Manual from EIM30200.

What records does HMRC expect?

BIM37670 emphasises that only reasonable expenses may be allowed and that claims must be supported by adequate contemporaneous records. Keep receipts and a note of where you travelled and why, to show the trip met Condition A and Condition B. A diary or mileage log linking each meal receipt to a specific journey is the most persuasive evidence if HMRC opens an enquiry. General record keeping duties are covered in record keeping for the self employed.

What mistakes come up most often?

  • Claiming daily lunches at a regular workplace or nearby sites, which Caillebotte v Quinn rules out.
  • Claiming the extra cost of eating out, which BIM47705 says cannot be apportioned.
  • Claiming meals on a journey that is itself a non deductible commute, failing Condition A.
  • Treating client lunches as subsistence, when they are business entertainment.
  • Claiming meals for a spouse or family members on a business trip.
  • Applying sole trader rules to a limited company director, whose meals follow the employee rules.

Meals sit alongside the other everyday costs covered in allowable business expenses. There is no flat rate for subsistence under simplified expenses, so claims must be based on actual, reasonable amounts.

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Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.