Touring Allowance

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— Lee, on a UK tour

Count it all as income, then expense what you spent

Your touring allowance (sometimes called a per diem — “for each day”) is income, just like your salary. The tidy, recommended way to handle it:

• Income = your salary plus your touring allowance.
• Expenses = what you actually spent on the job (accommodation, food and so on) — regardless of what the allowance was.

Example: £100/week allowance + £500/week salary = £600 income. You then expense what you really spent that week — say £90 on digs and food.

Didn’t keep your receipts?

It happens. If you didn’t track your spending on the contract, include the touring allowance as income and claim the full allowance amount as your expenses. In the example above that’s £600 income and £100 expenses. On the small chance HMRC ever looks at your accounts, that’s a sensible, satisfactory approach — but do try to keep receipts going forward, it’s always better to claim your real costs as often your expenses are more than your allowance.

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