been looking at a job and part of the package is £50 per week meal allowance tax free, so basically £10 per shift, is this still legal?
You’re supposed to provide receipts but it’s possible the employer has an arrangement with HMRC.
However given this is supposed to be a tax allowance from HMRC for subsistence, just like night out money, to compensate you for working long/abnormal hours with the additional costs of buying meals whilst at work for that you need to be looking at what the wages are without that £50. What you need to take notice of is… “equivalent to the take home pay for £10.50hr” because it isn’t and abusing a tax relief to make the hourly rate look better than it is should be in my view outlawed. If the pay is £9.50/hr then it’s £9.50/hr and trying to make it appear higher because of a tax relief which may be withdrawn at any time is just dishonest.
Stobarts??
biggriffin:
Stobarts??
Stobarts’ “meal allowance” is £15 a day, which equates to rather more than the OP’s £50 a week figure.
It seems in line with the allowable expenses for a ten hour shift (ie 2 £5 meals). This is just the company using the tax system to take some of your income out of tax and national insurance consideration.
It is actually perfectly possible to do the same yourself on a tax return and I think there is another method as well, so long as the total amount taken out of tax is less than a certain amount.
Connor is talking rubbish , stobart provide free food now at rugby / Carlisle / Appleton I.e I had a meal at rugby / cup tea = £7 ( just show diesel card , food free ) , I then picked up some food / tea from Appleton = £6 , so not md I’m agency , but a stobart company driver can class his £75 pw meal allowance as part of his wage ( use it for what he likes ) as the company supply free food / drinks for him
Connor is talking rubbish , stobart provide free food now at rugby / Carlisle / Appleton I.e I had a meal at rugby / cup tea = £7 ( just show diesel card , food free ) , I then picked up some food / tea from Appleton = £6 , so not md I’m agency , but a stobart company driver can class his £75 pw meal allowance as part of his wage ( use it for what he likes ) as the company supply free food / drinks for him
Dozy if a Stobart driver has a week off do they still get the meal allowance in their wage?
I dont. If im in I get the £5 per day my lot pay. If im off or its a bank holiday I don’t get it.
Therefore its not a reliable part of your wage.
Taxman may also be interested (but not likely) if meal allowance is being claimed while food is supplied for free…
ok ty all, some interesting points
toonsy:
Dozy if a Stobart driver has a week off do they still get the meal allowance in their wage?I dont. If im in I get the £5 per day my lot pay. If im off or its a bank holiday I don’t get it.
Therefore its not a reliable part of your wage.
Taxman may also be interested (but not likely) if meal allowance is being claimed while food is supplied for free…
You raise a very good point there - getting a “tax free” meal allowance while also receiving free (or even simply subsidised) meals from your employer is not permitted under HMRC rules. The chances of HMRC taking any action (other than maybe instructing Stobbies to stop doing it) are fairly low - But under the current “challenging” circumstances with the treasury coffers being drained at a prodigious rate to pay for all the furlough and business support, who is to say whether they might want to claw back this underpaid tax? Bearing in mind HMRC can go back 6 years (more if they think it was a deliberate fraud) and in that time a Stobbies driver could have underpaid up to £4k5 income tax (plus another couple of grand in NICs) in that period simply due to this “dodge”, the question they have to ask themselves is “Do I feel lucky…?”