Readers' forum: On the road

I act for a one-man limited company and am in the process of preparing the company accounts for the year ended 31 March 2019. The director does a lot of travelling around the country for his work and usually provides receipts for travel and subsistence costs such as meals away from the office. Unfortunately he appears to have mislaid the receipts for one month.

Rather than estimate a figure based on the other months the director has asked whether he could just use a flat rate daily amount to cover the costs of meals ‘on the road’. Is this possible or is this in effect a round sum allowance?

I phoned the agent helpline but was told they had not heard of such an arrangement. The director tells me he knows of many consultants in a similar situation who have been including expenses on this basis for years.

Can Taxation readers...