| Employment Income: Deductions and Expenses |
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expenses must be a question of fact and degree, and that the answer must turn not only on the price of transport but also on such considerations as speed, convenience, the purpose of the journey, and the status of the officer, etc.36 In Owen v Pook 37Lord Wilberforce rejected the idea that an expense was deductible only if precisely those expenses had to be incurred by each and every employee. |
18A.2.4 Category (b): Section 338: Travel to or from a Temporary Workplace |
Section 338 establishes that expenses may be deducted where they are attributable to the necessary attendance at any place of the holder of the office or employment in the performance of the duties of the office or employment, provided these expenses are not expenses of (i) ordinary commuting or (ii) private travel. |
The first words retain both the element of necessity and of the performance of duties and seem to be inspired by (and fit the facts of) the decisions in Owen v Pook and Taylor v Provan; however, the words also fit Ricketts v Colquhoun. Their purpose is, subject to exclusions (i) and (ii), to allow the costs of travel from home or a permanent workplace, to a temporary workplace—and of the return travel. The rule allows the deduction of all costs so incurred and not, as was first enacted, only the additional costs. In computing additional costs it was initially proposed that there would be a deduction for any saving realised by not having to incur ordinary commuting costs; however, this proved unworkable.38 |