Claiming Overtime Meal Allowance

You don’t sometimes have the luxury of rushing home for a quick dinner when your job requires overtime, and it will only need you to pay cash out of your pocket to eat at a restaurant when you ordinarily wouldn’t. Many employers provide overtime meal allowances to help with your costs when you have to dine out because of overtime labour.

While an overtime meal allowance is accessible to all employees, they are most frequently used by factory, transportation, and construction workers who work more than a set amount of overtime – typically two hours – and are paid by an industry award.

Here’s an overview of how overtime meal allowances work and what it is for employees who regularly work overtime.

Understanding Overtime Meal Allowance

In general, meals and drinks bought at work are considered personal expenses and are not tax deductible for the employee. The exception is where the employer provides the employee who is compelled to work overtime with an overtime meal allowance according to an industrial award.

To understand it better, we summarise it for you wherein an overtime meal allowance is:

• An amount of money given to you by your company so you can purchase food and drink (a meal allowance)
• A bonus intended only for working overtime
• A payment you get through a labour agreement – like an award or enterprise bargaining agreement
• An expected reimbursement to cover the expense of the meals and beverages you eat while working extra.

Note that an overtime meal allowance made about an industrial instrument but not enforceable under it is not paid under that industrial instrument.

It is also not an overtime meal allowance if the cost of your meals while overtime is included in your regular income and wages.

Claiming Overtime Meal Allowance

An overtime meal allowance should be listed separately and, in addition, to your gross wages on your annual payment summary.

When itemised in this way, it should be reported as income on your tax return, but if you have worked overtime, you may be entitled to claim it as a tax deduction if the criteria are met.

If you work overtime, you may be able to deduct your costs for meals – including food and drink – in the following situations:

• When you put in extra hours and spend money on your lunch.
• You were given a lunch allowance for working overtime by an industrial award.

You do not need to report it as income on your tax return if you received an overtime meal allowance that is not listed on your payment summary provided that:

• You used all of your budgets for tax-deductible expenses;
• Or you don’t list the costs as an expense on your tax return.

The claims far greater than the reasonable amount must be thoroughly supported by written evidence.

Reasonable Overtime Meal Allowance

It is not regarded as an overtime meal allowance if you were paid for meals during overtime as an undetermined portion of your regular income or compensation. If that is the case, it generally wouldn’t be itemised on your payment summary and wouldn’t require a separate tax return declaration.

Take not, as well, that every financial year, ATO updates the “Reasonable Overtime Meal Allowance Amount”.

You may deduct the price of a meal you purchased during your overtime in the following cases:

• In accordance with a labour agreement or an enterprise contract, you receive an overtime meal allowance.
• On your income statement and in your tax return, you disclose the overtime meal allowance.

Write Off Overtime Meal Allowance

Taxpayers can write off the cost of overtime meals in two ways:

• Substantiated – The actual cost of the overtime meal that is substantiated; however, it must be accompanied by proof of the expense, such as a receipt.
• Unsubstantiated – If you receive an overtime meal allowance paid under an industrial award, exceptional substantiation standards apply to your overtime meal expenses. For costs spent, a deduction is permitted without supporting documentation as long as the claim doesn’t exceed what the ATO considers “reasonable” spending.

General Rules for Overtime Meal Allowance

Employees must ensure they are provided under an award to avoid having their meal allowance incorporated into a workplace agreement or EBA.

In reality, some businesses’ payroll systems incorporate the meal allowance in the “Gross Payments” rather than showing it separately on their certificates. In these situations, assuming the budget is given by an award, we urge the client to either check their pay stubs for information or seek a letter from their employers attesting to the payment of an allowance and the daily rate.

Alternatively, if an overtime meal allowance is noted separately on your payslip, that will suffice as proof that you received one, provided it is paid under an industrial award. In this situation, you should preserve copies of your pay stubs if the ATO conducts a review.

When are overtime meal allowances deductible?

While not all businesses do so, most governmental organisations, including state governments and public colleges, do. Private companies may also provide overtime meal reimbursements, which you can consult in your employee handbook for more information. Read your policy carefully, as public and private organisations frequently have significantly different ones.

If you are required to work a set amount of overtime, say three hours, and that time extends past your daily home mealtime, you may be eligible for an extra meal payment.

After your overtime work, your company might pay you the whole amount of your allowance, but in other situations, they might pay you what you can show you spent. You must save your receipt and submit it for reimbursement up to the permitted amount.

Meals purchased while working are often considered private expenses and are not tax deductible. However, if any of the following apply, you may deduct for an overtime meal:

• You have purchased and consumed dinner while working overtime
• You received a lunch payment for overtime work under a collective bargaining or enterprise agreement where both:
  • It appears on your income statement because of your employer.
  • You include it in your tax return as income.

An expense you incur to generate your employment revenue is a meal you purchase and consume while working overtime.

If an exception from keeping records of overtime meal expenses applies, you must have a paper to substantiate you incurred the charge. For instance, if your claim falls within the Commissioner’s published range of acceptable sums.

When are overtime meal allowances non-deductible?

When you travel for work, you frequently eat away from home even if you aren’t working. The criteria for food reimbursement for travel, mainly overnight trips, are typically unique and aren’t regarded as overtime. Additionally, you won’t be eligible for an overtime meal allowance if your employer pays for your lunch while you are working overtime, such as if they make you attend a company banquet on a weeknight. You can only use the allowance if you buy food with your own money.

If any of the following apply, you cannot:

• Purchase the overtime lunch on your own — for instance, your employer might offer one or compensate you for the cost.
• If you are working overtime, consume the meal (such as eating the food on your way home after working overtime).

What are the exceptions for keeping overtime meal allowance records?

You often require records if you want to deduct the costs of an overtime meal allowance. If your expenses are within the acceptable range the Commissioner discloses, there might be an exception.

To rely on the exemption from recording overtime meal allowance, you must do the following:

• You must pay a deductible dinner charge for working overtime.
• Your employer is required to provide you with an overtime meal reimbursement.
• The total amount you deduct for expenses paid for by your allowance is within the range of what the Commissioner considers reasonable.

Expenditure Reports for Overtime Meal Allowance

Unless an exception applies, you must document your overtime meal costs in writing. Then, you must keep written documentation for at least five years after the filing date of your return.

Written Proof

A paper, digital, or electronic document you receive from the provider of the goods or services, like an itemised receipt, is known as written evidence. Written documentation must include all that follows:

• the supplier’s name or company name
• the cost expressed in the currency used to make the purchase
• what the goods or services are like
• the day you first incur the cost
• the day the record (evidence) was created.

The paperwork must be in English; however, if the expense is incurred outside of Australia, it may be in the native tongue of that nation.

You can use the following to demonstrate when you made payment if the paperwork does not indicate the day you incurred the travel expense:

• an account statement
• statement for a credit card
• other logical, independent proof that demonstrates when it was paid

You may add the missing information yourself if the document the supplier provided you with needs a description of the nature of the products or services. You must complete this step before filing the income tax return in which you are claiming the deduction, though.

Learn How to Claim Your Overtime Meal Allowance with Kasker Associates

The rate of the overtime meal allowance depends on numerous industry awards – which you can check with your employer for your award rate. The allowance must be reported as assessable income on your tax return and is typically stated separately in the “allowances” section on your Annual Payment Summary.

Here at Kasker Associates, we will help you understand how an overtime meal allowance works and how beneficial it is for you who work overtime. We will also talk you through its processes for claiming the reimbursement you deserve.