| Employment Income: Deductions and Expenses |
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deduction for the costs of travel between two places if neither is a workplace in relation to the employment. The Recorder’s travel to Portsmouth in Ricketts v Colquhoun was private so far as the Lord Chancellor’s Department was concerned. Travel between any two places which is, for practical purposes, substantially ordinary private travel is treated as private travel.46 |
18A.2.4.3 Application of Rule |
The words requiring that the travel be required by the employment are presumably to be applied objectively. The Revenue has stated that it will not seek to disallow first class rail travel on the ground that only standard class was necessary.47 However, this does not allow relief where the mode of transport is a form of reward as opposed to being attributable to business travel.48 |
18A.2.4.4 Examples49 |
Alan has his permanent workplace in Bristol, where he is a lathe operator. One day he has to travel from home to Bath to look at a new machine. He is entitled to relief for the full cost of his return journey from home to Bath because it is a journey to a temporary workplace. |
Betty lives in Cheltenham and each day drives to her permanent workplace in Swindon where she works as a trainee accountant. No relief is available for the journey from Cheltenham to Swindon as this is ordinary commuting. |
Clive lives and works in Dagenham but goes to Devon for the weekend to stay with friends. He remains in Devon on the Monday, working on papers he has brought with him from the office. He is not entitled to relief for the cost of the journey from Dagenham to Devon as it is private travel. |
Derek normally works at his employer’s offices in Edinburgh, travelling each day from his home in East Kilbride. One day he has to visit Perth to undertake some work in Perth for his employer. The cost of the return |