Private ruling: Deduction for meals
Published: September 2011
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2011 | Year ended 30 June 2012 | Year ended 30 June 2013 | Year ended 30 June 2014
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2010

Ruling: Q1: Are you entitled to a deduction for meals? | A1: No.


Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 8-1

Reasons for decision: Summary: Section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) allows a deduction for all losses and outgoings to the extent to which they are incurred in gaining or producing assessable income except where the outgoings are of a capital, private or domestic nature, or relate to the earning of exempt income. Meal expenses are normally private or domestic in character. However, where a taxpayer is away from home overnight in connection with an income producing activity, meal expenses are deductible under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997. The expenditure is not considered private because its occasion is the taxpayer's travel away from home on income producing activities. In considering the deductibility of travel expenses, a distinction is made between travel to work and travel on work. It is only if the duties of the job require a taxpayer to travel in the course of undertaking their work duties that the taxpayer's expenses can be deducted ( Taylor v Provan 1975 AC 194). In FC of T v. Toms 89 ATC 4373; (1989) 20 ATR 466 ( Toms case ) the Federal Court disallowed a forest worker's deduction for the cost of maintaining a caravan and other living expenses. The taxpayer incurred the expenses in providing temporary accommodation at the base camp because the taxpayer had chosen to reside at a place far from the worksite. These expenses were dictated not by work but by private considerations. In your case, your accommodation close to your workplace is considered to be your second residence for the periods you are working. As such, you are not considered to be away from home overnight. As in Toms case , expenses you incur for meals are not work related expenses and are considered to be private. Accordingly, a deduction for these expenses is not allowable.

Please check this edited version to be sure that there are no details remaining that you think may allow you to be identified. If you have any concerns about this ruling you wish to discuss, you will find our contact details in the fact sheet. | Relevant facts: You are employed as a fly in/fly out employee. | Your employer pays for your flight to and from a town near your work site, your accommodation and all transport at the work site town. | Your employer transports you from your accommodation to the workplace each day. | You leave your accommodation in the morning and return in the evening six days per week. You also work night shifts on a similar roster. | Your employer pays for one meal per day and you are required to provide the rest. | Because you have a medical condition, you provide all your own meals. | You are a casual employee and do not qualify for overtime meal allowances. | Your employer has advised you that a meal allowance is included in your hourly rate of pay. | You have written records to substantiate your meal expenses which include a travel diary and receipts for meals.