Is there such a thing as a free lunch...

A question about : Is there such a thing as a free lunch...

I'm currently interviewing with a company which offers a free lunch up to the value of Ј11 per day. Do I have to pay tax on this?

Given that I normally just eat a bit of fruit and I'm a higher rate tax payer, I'm wondering if I'll end up being worse off (albeit with a fuller stomach).

Best answers:

• We have a subsidised canteen at work - negotiated as part of our pay deal I think. A full hot cooked meal is around Ј2ish, full roast for Ј4ish. Cold food isn't included, so a cheese and pickle roll is Ј3.80 in comparison.
  We don't pay any extra tax or similar for the benefit, but its possible that our overall salary may have been negotiated higher if we didn't have this perk - hard to say.
  Depending on what's on offer, the rest of the job and the salary, and your daily life pattern/what you normally eat in a day, it may be worth switching your main meal of the day to the afternoon? Start having soup and sarnies for dinner.
• Info here - https://www.gov.uk/expenses-benefits...ctors/overview
• Assuming its just the staff canteen then normally not.
  Guess you're not looking at being a contractor/ temp via an umbrella and the umbrella is telling you can claim Ј11/ day for lunch?
• Provided the free lunch is available to all employees (doesn't matter if they choose not to eat it), then there's a staff canteen exemption making it an exempt benefit. No tax for you or the employer.
  Free lunches aren't always brilliant though, and companies will try to claim the full amount (Ј11 x your total number of working days) is part of your overall reward package, even if you don't eat the blessed thing because it's horrible.