An employee on secondment at a temporary workplace may obtain
relief for accommodation costs (see
EIM31836) and also for the costs of
subsistence attributable to staying at the temporary workplace.
This covers necessary food and drink and may also cover costs
associated with accommodation, such as utility bills and personal
expenditure attributable solely to the business travel. Relief may
also be due for the cost of travel between the temporary
accommodation and the temporary workplace (see example 4 in
EIM31838).
Payments for expenses incidental to the business travel may
also be made tax-free by the employer up to the limits imposed by
Section 241 ITEPA 2003, see
EIM02710.
There are no HMRC authorised subsistence rates for general
application, although there are limited agreements for particular
industries (see for example
EIM66140 for lorry drivers). Accurate
rates across the whole range of different circumstances would be
very complex and would be difficult to create and maintain. A
simple list of agreed rates would run the risk of permitting
excessive relief or being inadequate and so of little practical
use. For that reason you should not permit the use of generalised
published rates such as those of the US Internal Revenue Service,
or those published by the UN.
A dispensation may be granted where an employer makes
appropriate scale rate payments for subsistence, see
EIM30057.
