How do CIS travel, meal and accommodation expenses work?
A genuinely self-employed CIS subcontractor follows the normal self-employed trading-expense rules when deciding whether travel, meals and accommodation can reduce taxable profit.
CIS itself does not make these expenses automatically allowable. It primarily governs how contractors account for payments and deductions made to subcontractors.
Qualifying business travel may be deductible. Meals have tighter rules because everyone needs food to live. Genuine overnight business trips can allow reasonable accommodation and associated subsistence where HMRC's conditions are met.
When can travel to construction sites qualify?
Site travel depends on the actual pattern of the trade.
An itinerant subcontractor who moves between temporary sites can have a different tax position from someone whose normal pattern is travelling from home to one regular business location.
Relevant factors can include:
- How many different construction sites you work at.
- Whether the sites are temporary locations.
- Whether you have a fixed business base.
- Whether travelling between locations is inherent in the trade.
- How long you remain at individual sites.
See our CIS Mileage & Travel Guide for the detailed site-travel rules.
Can CIS subcontractors claim meals?
Not simply because they are working away from home.
HMRC's starting position is that food and drink are ordinary costs of living because everyone must eat regardless of whether they are working.
A £10 lunch does not become deductible just because you bought it near a construction site
Where food is an ordinary personal living cost, HMRC does not simply allow the additional cost caused by having to eat away from home.
There are, however, specific circumstances where reasonable subsistence can qualify.
What if your construction trade is itinerant?
HMRC allows reasonable food and drink expenses where the underlying business travel qualifies and the trade is itinerant at the time the cost is incurred.
An itinerant trade is one whose nature involves moving from place to place rather than operating from one fixed working location.
The meal rule does not operate independently. HMRC requires the journey to the place to be allowable business travel, or to have been allowable had the trader incurred travel costs.
What about an occasional journey outside your normal work pattern?
HMRC also allows reasonable food and drink expenses where the trader travels only occasionally to the place and the journey is outside their normal business travel pattern.
This could also apply where the trader does not have a normal travel pattern.
Itinerant trade
The trade itself involves moving between temporary working locations and the underlying journey qualifies.
Unusual business journey
An occasional trip is outside the subcontractor's normal pattern of business travel.
Routine lunch
An ordinary meal during a normal working day is generally a personal living cost.
Normal business base
Food and accommodation at the established base of operations are not turned into travel expenses simply because work keeps you there.
Can you claim expenses when construction work requires an overnight stay?
Yes, where a genuine business trip requires one or more nights away from home.
HMRC says reasonable hotel accommodation and overnight subsistence can be deductible in these circumstances.
Hotel + reasonable associated meals can potentially qualify
The overnight stay must arise from the business journey rather than simply from choosing to live near the normal business base.
Can CIS subcontractors claim hotel costs?
Reasonable hotel accommodation can potentially qualify where the business trip genuinely requires the subcontractor to spend one or more nights away from home.
Keep:
- The hotel invoice.
- Dates of the stay.
- The site or contract involved.
- Evidence showing why an overnight stay was necessary.
- Details of any amount reimbursed by the contractor.
Can you claim meals while staying away overnight?
HMRC says reasonable meals taken in conjunction with qualifying overnight accommodation can be allowable.
The meal does not have to appear on the same hotel bill.
The rule is designed for normal subsistence arising from the business trip. It should not be read as an unlimited deduction for personal entertainment or excessive expenditure.
Can you claim accommodation at your normal business base?
HMRC specifically says the overnight accommodation rule does not extend to accommodation and subsistence at the base of business operations, even where a contract requires the trader to reside in a particular place.
This distinction matters for longer construction engagements. Simply needing somewhere to live near the place where the trade is normally carried on does not automatically turn rent, hotel costs or meals into deductible travel expenses.
What if the contractor pays for your hotel?
There are different outcomes depending on the arrangement.
| Arrangement | General position |
|---|---|
| You pay the hotel yourself | You may potentially claim the qualifying cost if the overnight business-trip conditions are satisfied. |
| Contractor fully provides and pays for accommodation | If you incur no cost and the contractor does not recover any amount from you, you cannot also claim the hotel cost yourself. |
| Contractor passes some hotel cost to you | The amount you actually bear needs to be considered under both the CIS payment rules and the normal expense rules. |
| Contractor reimburses your accommodation | The reimbursement may form part of the overall CIS contract payment rather than simply being ignored for CIS purposes. |
Are travel and accommodation reimbursements subject to CIS?
Potentially, yes.
HMRC's CIS manual says that where the construction contract obliges the contractor to pay a subcontractor's travel, subsistence or accommodation expenses, those payments form part of the overall value of the construction contract and can fall within the CIS deduction rules.
“Expenses reimbursed separately” does not automatically mean “outside CIS”
The terms of the construction contract and who actually bears the expense matter.
What if a trip combines business and private purposes?
Personal expenditure cannot be claimed simply because business work also took place during the trip.
Where costs are genuinely separable, only the appropriate business expenditure should be considered.
Examples requiring care include:
- Extending a business stay for a personal weekend.
- Taking family members on a work trip.
- Upgrading accommodation for private reasons.
- Adding leisure travel to a site visit.
Can travel and subsistence expenses affect a CIS tax refund?
Qualifying travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses can reduce taxable self-employed profit.
That can reduce the final Income Tax and relevant National Insurance liability and therefore affect the comparison with CIS deductions already suffered.
Expenses affect the profit calculation. A CIS repayment only arises if the final tax position leaves an excess after CIS deductions and other relevant tax payments are taken into account.
See our CIS Tax Refunds Guide for the repayment process.
What records should you keep?
Travel and subsistence claims should be supported by contemporaneous records, especially where the pattern of site work matters.
Keep site records
Record which construction site you attended and the dates you worked there.
Keep travel evidence
Retain mileage logs, tickets, parking receipts and other evidence of qualifying journeys.
Keep hotel invoices
Record the dates, location, cost and business reason for overnight accommodation.
Keep meal receipts
Where subsistence qualifies, keep evidence of the reasonable costs incurred.
Record contractor reimbursements
Keep documentation showing which expenses the contractor paid, reimbursed or deducted from amounts due to you.
Reviewed & Updated
18 August 2026
2026/27
GO TAX REFUNDS
HM Revenue & Customs / GOV.UK
Travel, subsistence and accommodation are fact-specific. Allowable travel does not automatically make meals allowable, and accommodation at the normal base of business operations is treated differently from a genuine overnight business trip.
CIS Travel, Meals & Accommodation FAQs
Can CIS subcontractors claim meals?
Not automatically. Food is normally a private living cost, but reasonable subsistence can potentially qualify for an itinerant trade, certain occasional business journeys or a qualifying overnight business trip.
Can I claim lunch every day on site?
You should not assume so. Routine meals are normally personal living costs. Whether subsistence qualifies depends on HMRC's specific travel and itinerant-trade conditions.
Can I claim a hotel while working away?
Reasonable hotel accommodation can potentially qualify where a genuine business trip requires one or more nights away from home.
Can I claim dinner while staying in a hotel?
Reasonable meals taken in conjunction with qualifying overnight accommodation can potentially be deductible, even if the meal is not on the hotel bill.
Can I claim accommodation near a long-term site?
Not automatically. HMRC specifically excludes overnight accommodation and subsistence at the base of business operations from the general overnight-trip rule.
What if the contractor pays for my hotel?
If the contractor independently provides and fully pays for the hotel and you bear no cost, you cannot also claim that accommodation cost yourself.
Are reimbursed travel expenses outside CIS?
Not necessarily. HMRC says payments of travel, subsistence or accommodation that the contractor is obliged to make under the construction contract can form part of the CIS contract payment.
Do meals or hotels guarantee a larger CIS refund?
No. Qualifying expenses may reduce taxable profit, but a refund depends on the completed tax calculation and the CIS deductions credited by HMRC.
HMRC & GOV.UK Sources
This guide is reviewed against current HMRC guidance on subcontractor travel, subsistence, accommodation and CIS contract payments.
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