Caillebotte v Quinn Ch D 1975 50 TC 222 [1975] STC 265 [1975] 1 WLR 731 [1975]
Citation:Caillebotte v Quinn Ch D 1975 50 TC 222 [1975] STC 265 [1975] 1 WLR 731 [1975]
Link to case on WorldLII (reference).
Rule of thumb:Are costs of food and drink an allowable business expenses? As a general rule, no, they are not.
Judgment:
The facts of this case were that a self-employed builder was working on site away from the office. The builder argued that having lunch at his normal location would cost 10p whereas it cost 40p when he was on site – and he also needed additional energy, ’A [self-employed] taxpayer, like every other taxpayer, must eat in order to live; he does not eat in order to work. Mr Medd, for the Crown, submits - and I accept - that in these circumstances no part of the cost of Mr Quinn’s lunch was “exclusively … expended for the purposes of” his trade as a carpenter. The cost of tea consumed by an actor at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is different, for in that case the quenching of a thirst is incidental to the playing of the part. The cost of protective clothing worn in the course of carrying on a trade will be deductible, because warmth and decency are incidental to the protection necessary to the carrying on of the trade. There is no such connection between eating and carpentry. … It is not without significance that in the present case the taxpayer does not claim the whole of the cost of his lunch as an allowable expense, but only part of the cost. This attempt to apportion discloses the duality of purpose that is fatal…’ “a Schedule C taxpayer, like any other taxpayer, must eat in order to live; he does not eat in order to work.” (famous quote) Lord Templeman
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