Staff mess expenses

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student

student (Querist)
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11 September 2016 Can I take staff mess expenses as indirect expenses for a firm?

Aashok Kumar Sharma

Aashok Kumar Sharma (Expert)
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25 July 2025 Hey! Yes, **staff mess expenses** can generally be treated as **indirect expenses** in your firm’s books. Here’s why and how:

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### Why classify staff mess expenses as indirect expenses?

* **Indirect Expense Nature:**
Staff mess expenses are not directly linked to production or sales but support the overall functioning of the organization — so they fit under indirect expenses.

* **Part of Employee Welfare/Benefits:**
Providing meals to employees is often considered a welfare measure, classified under employee welfare or staff welfare expenses, which are indirect costs.

* **Common Accounting Practice:**
Most businesses record staff mess expenses as an overhead or indirect expense.

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### How to treat staff mess expenses?

* **Accounting Treatment:**
Typically, these expenses are debited to accounts like:

* Staff Welfare Expenses
* Employee Welfare Expenses
* Indirect Expenses — Staff Mess

* They get aggregated with other indirect expenses for cost and profitability analysis.

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### Tax & compliance considerations:

* In some tax jurisdictions, staff welfare expenses including mess expenses can be deductible for income tax purposes.
* Also, if the firm provides subsidized or free meals, there may be implications for employee benefits tax or perquisites — so keep that in mind.

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### Summary:

| Treatment | Details |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| Expense Type | Indirect Expense |
| Accounting Head | Staff Welfare / Employee Welfare / Indirect Expense |
| Purpose | Employee welfare / support expense |

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If you want, I can help you draft journal entries or suggest how to present this in financial statements. Need that?

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