allowance

allowance al‧low‧ance [əˈlaʊəns] noun

1. [countable] an amount of money that someone is given regularly or for a special reason:

• She earns a package worth $1 million, including a $15,000 clothing allowance.

ˌcost of ˈliving alˌlowance [countable] HUMAN RESOURCES

money some people receive in addition to their normal pay to cover increases in the cost of living. The amount is related to changes in the cost-of-living index

enterˈtainment alˌlowance [countable] HUMAN RESOURCES

an amount of money given regularly to an employee to pay for meals, hotels, drinks etc for company business clients:

• He had an entertainment allowance of around £20,000 a year.

ˈfamily alˌlowance [uncountable]

the old name for child benefit ➔ benefit¹

ˈjob-seeker's alˌlowance [countable]

money that the British government pays to people who do not have a job but who are looking for one. The job-seeker's allowance replaced unemployment benefit

subˈsistence alˌlowance [countable] HUMAN RESOURCES

money that you are given to pay for food and other small costs, for example when you have to travel somewhere for your employer:

• You can claim a £29 a day subsistence allowance to cover meals, taxis, and other incidental expenses.

2. [countable] ACCOUNTING an amount that a company thinks it may lose in the future, and includes in its accounts as a provision:

subsistence allowance for

• The company has made an increase in its allowance for bad debt.

ˌloan-ˈloss alˌlowance [countable] BANKING

an amount that a bank thinks it may lose in the future because loans it has made will probably not be repaid:

• Worsening economic conditions could force it to increase its loan-loss allowances.

3. [countable] TAX an amount of money that a person can earn without paying tax on it

ˈincome tax alˌlowance [countable] TAX

a part of someone's income that is not taxed, for example because it comes from a particular source, or because they have children; = income tax deduction AmE

ˈpersonal alˌlowance [countable] TAX

the amount of income that each person can earn each year without paying tax on it; = personal exemption

4. [countable] TAX a maximum amount of goods that you can buy without paying tax on them when taking them into another country:

• They may introduce higher sales taxes on purchases above the duty-free allowance.

5. [countable] TAX an amount that can be taken off a business's profit figure when calculating tax. Allowances are often used to encourage particular business decisions, such as spending on new machinery

ˈauto-expense alˌlowance , ˈcar alˌlowance [countable] TAX

an amount that can be taken off a business's profit figure when calculating tax, to allow for the cost of using cars for business purposes:

• a big increase in taxes on company cars and a cut in the auto-expense allowance

ˈcapital alˌlowance [countable]

TAX a particular amount of a business's profit that is not taxed if it is invested in equipment etc:

• Small and medium businesses will benefit from a doubling of capital allowances on machinery and plant.

depreciˈation alˌlowance [countable] TAX

an amount that can be taken off a business's profit figure when calculating tax, to allow for the fact that an asset has lost part of its value during a particular period of time:

• The finance minister should increase business depreciation allowances to encourage investment.

ˌwriting-ˈdown alˌlowance [countable] TAX

in Britain, an amount allowed for depreciation (= fall in value) of an asset that is not taxed:

• Only 25 per cent writing-down allowance is given in the first year.

6. [countable] MARKETING a reduction in price given to retailers by manufacturers or wholesaler S:

• The company had to give retailers special allowances so they could lower the price.

— see also oversubscription allowance

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allowance UK US /əˈlaʊəns/ noun [C]

► money that someone is given regularly by their employer or by the government to pay for a particular thing: »

an accommodation/car/mileage allowance

an allowance for sth/to do sth »

Some companies will even give their telecommuting executives an allowance to buy office furniture for their home.

»

Employees relocating to London receive a maximum allowance of £1000 a year.

► an amount of something that someone is allowed to have, use, produce, etc.: baggage/luggage allowance »

Baggage allowance is 2 free bags per passenger, and $80 per additional bag.

»

In Europe nearly all of the valuable emission allowances - permits that each allow one ton of emissions - were given away to power companies.

► TAX an amount of goods that you are allowed to buy and take into another country before you have to start paying tax: »

The Australian Customs Service will not charge you duty or tax on goods you bring in if they are within the duty-free allowance guidelines.

► mainly UK TAX an amount of money that can be taken off your income before the tax owed is calculated: »

a tax allowance

»

a personal/married couple's/single person's allowance

»

an annual allowance

► ACCOUNTING, TAX an amount of money that can be taken off a company's profits before the tax owed is calculated: »

The purchaser of assets can claim allowances on certain items such as plant and machinery.

► the fact of planning or paying now for a possible future change in a situation or a possible future cost, or the amount that is planned for: make an allowance for sth »

It is unlikely that the regulator will make any allowance for falls in customer service caused by a strike.

»

They made a 10% allowance for bad debt.

»

The company will extend existing health-plan contracts and their pricing for eight years, with allowances for inflation.

→ Compare PROVISION(Cf. ↑provision) noun

► COMMERCE a special arrangement, such as a lower price, that manufacturers offer to stores which are going to sell their products: »

When selling a new product, manufacturers sometimes give retailers an allowance, for example a sale or return agreement.

→ See also CAPITAL ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑capital allowance), COST OF LIVING ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑cost of living allowance), DISPLAY ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑display allowance), ENTERTAINMENT ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑entertainment allowance), HARDSHIP ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑hardship allowance), INVESTMENT ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑investment allowance), JOBSEEKER'S ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑Jobseeker's Allowance), LOAN-LOSS ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑loan-loss allowance), PERSONAL ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑personal allowance), SUBSIDIARY(Cf. ↑subsidiary) noun, SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑subsistence allowance), WRITING-DOWN ALLOWANCE(Cf. ↑writing-down allowance)