Business travel meals

Meals bought during a qualifying business journey can be allowable, but the rules differ sharply between self-employed and employees — and ordinary commuting or everyday office eating never qualifies regardless of how hard you are working.

Sole traderConditional

Ltd companyConditional

EmployeeConditional

Conditions

For self-employed sole traders, the dual-purpose rule (BIM37670, s34 ITTOIA 2005) means food is generally not deductible because everyone must eat regardless of work. The exceptions are narrow: (1) a trade that is itinerant by nature — a mobile engineer, commercial traveller, or sales rep who has no fixed base and genuinely travels as the trade — or (2) an occasional business journey that falls outside your normal pattern of travel, such as a home-based designer taking a train to a one-off client briefing in another city. Routine journeys to familiar clients or regular sites do not qualify even if they are technically 'away from base'.
For a limited company director or employee, the journey must be a qualifying business journey — travel that is not ordinary commuting and is to a temporary workplace. Under HMRC's 24-month rule, a site that an employee attends for more than 40% of their working time for a period expected to last (or that does last) more than 24 months becomes a permanent workplace, ending the deduction on meals for that journey.
Employees and directors can use HMRC's benchmark scale rates rather than keeping individual meal receipts. The current rates (EIM30240) are: £5 for a qualifying journey of 5 hours or more; £10 for 10 hours or more; £25 for a journey of 15 hours or more that is still in progress at 8pm. Where a 5-hour or 10-hour journey extends past 8pm, a supplementary rate of £10 can also be paid in addition to the relevant rate. These are 2025/26 rates as confirmed in EIM30240 (last updated 4 June 2026).
To use benchmark rates, three conditions must all be met: the travel must be in performance of duties or to a temporary workplace; the employee must have been away from their normal workplace or home for a continuous period exceeding the qualifying hours; and the employee must actually have incurred a meal cost after starting the journey and must retain evidence of expenditure.
Employers can choose to reimburse actual costs instead of scale rates — in which case full receipts are required. Benchmark rates are a simplification option, not a right to pay without any substantiation.
Benchmark scale rates apply only to employer reimbursements to employees. Self-employed people have no equivalent flat-rate system and must claim actual costs on qualifying journeys only.
Costs claimed must be reasonable. Extravagant or excessive meals may be disallowed or treated partly as entertainment.

Common mistakes

Self-employed traders claiming daily meals near their normal base as 'business travel' subsistence — the journey must be genuinely occasional and outside the normal pattern.
Using benchmark scale rates without the employee having actually incurred a meal cost — HMRC requires evidence of expenditure even when using the scale rate.
Continuing to claim qualifying-journey meal relief after a temporary workplace tips into being a permanent workplace under the 24-month rule.
Assuming the £25 rate applies to any journey that happens to end after 8pm — it applies only where the total journey is 15 hours or more and is still in progress at 8pm.
Claiming extravagant restaurant meals in full when only reasonable costs are allowable.

What to keep

Receipts for actual meal costs, or evidence of expenditure where benchmark rates are used.
A travel record showing the journey, date, destination, and business purpose.
For self-employed: a note of why the journey falls within the itinerant-trade or occasional-journey exception.

Real-world example

A self-employed management consultant works from a home office and takes a train to a one-off strategy day at a new client's site in Birmingham. She buys lunch at the station and dinner on the return journey — both are allowable as costs of that occasional business journey. If she later takes on a three-day-a-week engagement at the same site for 18 months, the site becomes her temporary workplace; the meals remain allowable because the 24-month rule has not yet been triggered. Once the engagement extends to two years or more, it becomes her permanent workplace and the meals are no longer deductible.

Frequently asked

Can I use HMRC's benchmark scale rates if I am self-employed?

No. The benchmark scale rates are available only to employers reimbursing employees on qualifying journeys. Self-employed people claim actual meal costs, subject to the conditions in BIM37670 — itinerant trade or occasional business journeys only.

I work in a client's office three days a week — can I claim lunch on those days?

Only if the client's site is a temporary workplace and the 24-month rule has not yet bitten. Once you attend the same site for more than 40% of your working time over a period lasting (or expected to last) more than 24 months, it becomes a permanent workplace and the meals are disallowed.

Do I need individual receipts if I use the benchmark scale rate?

You need evidence that you actually incurred a meal cost during the journey — this does not have to be itemised receipts for every item, but some evidence of expenditure is required. You cannot simply pocket the rate without having bought a meal.

Not sure how this applies to you?

The rules shift with your circumstances. A qualified accountant can confirm what you can claim and handle it for you.

Find an accountant

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Related allowances

Source: HMRC guidance · Last checked 29 June 2026

This page is general information based on HMRC published guidance, not tax advice. Status shown is a plain-English summary — your own position can differ. Always check the HMRC source above and speak to a qualified accountant before making a claim.