Private ruling: Work related expenses
Date of advice: 19 August 2025
Published: 20 October 2025
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 20XX | Year ended 30 June 20XX
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 20XX

Ruling: Q1: Are you considered an itinerant worker? | A1: No. | Q2: Is travel from home to different work sites and from different work sites back home tax deductible? | A2: No. | Q3: Is travel between different work sites during the working day tax deductible? | A3: Yes.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You work as an employee as Occupation A for a Area A based medical XX provider. You are contractually assigned to a primary site (referred to as "home site" in your contract). The "home site" is in name designation only, and you may not attend this site for prolonged periods of time. You routinely travel and work across up to XX different work sites in the region. On any given week you may be given a shift to one of the sites between XX times including the "home site". However, rarely do you travel to more than one site on any one day. At any time during the day your employer may ask you to attend another site. You may also be asked to perform a different role at the current site or a different site on the day. The specific site you attend varies from day to day and work pattern is not predictable or fixed week to week. You do not have a fixed daily place of work, and you are required to attend to these sites as per both your contract and enterprise agreement. Your duties involve direct physical interaction with XX and you carry essential work-related items between sites. These items are not stored on site and must be taken with you each shift to maintain continuity and comply with safety protocols. While not physically large, these items are essential for your performance of your daily duties with a multi-site role. You do not have a fixed desk, office or secure storage place at any site. You have supplied a travel logbook supporting your non-fixed work schedule. Paid time begins and ends at the roster shift time unless on-call. These shift times vary from a start time of between XX and end at XX and are XX hour shifts. When you are on-call, you are typically required to attend the site within XX minutes however what you do in the meantime does not matter. You are subject to your employer's directions to the extent of arriving at your destination on time. What you do in the meantime is irrelevant to them. You do not receive a travel allowance or receive any reimbursements from your employer.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 8-1 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 25-100

Reasons for decision: Detailed Reasoning - Itinerant Worker: Travelling between home and shifting places of work: A deduction is allowable for the transport expenses incurred in travelling between home and shifting places of work, where the building worker is required by the nature of the job itself to do the job in more than one place. The mere fact that a building worker may choose to do part of the job in a separate place from that where the job is located is not enough. Paragraphs 152-158 of TR 95/22 provides 'that many building workers may be engaged in itinerant work from time to time. However, this does not mean that the costs of travelling between home and work will always be an allowable deduction for building workers. It is the circumstance of each particular taxpayer that determine whether he or she is entitled to a deduction'. 'Some of the cases that refer to shifting places of work (or itinerancy) are Horton v. Young (1972) Ch. 157; 47 TC 60 ( Horton v. Young) ; Taylor v. Provan (1975) AC 194 ( Taylor v. Provan ); FC of T v. Weiner 78 ATC 4006; 8 ATR 335 ( Weiner's case ); Case R8 84 ATC 157; 27 CTBR(NS) Case 59 ( Case R8 ); Case T106 86 ATC 1192; AAT Case 17 (1986) 18 ATR 3093 ( Case T106 ); Case U29 87 ATC 229; AAT Case 32 18 ATR 3181 ( Case U29 ); Case U97 87 ATC 584; AAT Case 68 18 ATR 3491 ( Case U97 ); FC of T v. Genys 87 ATC 4875; (1987) 19 ATR 356 ( Genys' case )'. The characteristics present in these cases, but which were not found to support the allowance of a deduction for travel between home and work on the basis of itinerancy were: (a) being on stand-by or short notice contact for work ( Genys' case ); (b) having a settled pattern of employment ( Case U97 ); (c) being a casual employee who works for different employers regularly ( Genys' case ); (d) the incurring of 'additional expenditure' to travel to work ( Case U 29 ); (e) the taxpayer had a principal place of duty as a matter of routine, even though that may have changed at intervals of several months ( Case U 29 ); (f) the obtaining of work from an agency on a regular basis so that one regularly has different employers on different days ( Genys' case ) In Case U97 , B J McMahon (Senior Member), in commenting on Case T106 , said (ATC at 588; ATR at 3495): 'several observations were made [in that case] to illustrate the web of workplaces that one would expect to find, particularly in a casual rather than a semi-permanent pattern, in order to categorise employment as itinerant.' Senior Member McMahon went on to say: 'In my view, the circumstances of the present applicant are such that his settled pattern of employment cannot be regarded as itinerant, even though he is not required to serve at the same station for every day...There is not a web of workplaces...There is not the constant unsettled dispatch from one workplace to another, the element of uncertainty...' | Detailed Reasoning - Question 2: Paragraph 9 of Taxation Ruling 2021/1 Income Tax: when are deductions allowed for employees' transport expenses? advises, for an expense to be incurred in gaining or producing assessable income it is both sufficient and necessary that the occasion for the expense should be found in whatever is productive of assessable income. Paragraph 10 of TR 2021/1 provides if the transport expenses incurred by an employee meet the requirements of section 8-1, the applicable substantiation requirements must also be satisfied for the employee to claim the expense as a deduction. | Detailed Reasoning - Travel to a regular place of work: Paragraphs 21-23 of TR 2021/1 advises: '... an employee's costs of travelling between home and a regular place of work are not deductible. Such costs are not incurred in the course of gaining or producing the employee's assessable income. They are explained by where the employee lives in relation to where they report for work. Transport expenses incurred in travelling between an employee's home and their regular place of employment are private in nature. This is not changed by the fact that the employee performs work-related tasks at home as a matter of choice or for their convenience. ... This is because the travel itself is a prerequisite to commencing work duties. Similarly, where the employee travels to their regular place of work from another location in which they undertake private activities, for example a café, the cost of travel is not deductible. Such expenses are not deductible as they are not incurred in the course of earning assessable income'. Paragraph 27 of TR 2021/1 provides that in some employment arrangements there may be more than one regular workplace established. This may be expressly provided for in the employment agreement or contract between the employer and employee, or it may arise as a matter of practice in the relationship between employer and employee. A second or subsequent place of work would be a regular place of work if it is also a normal or routine place where the employee works, such that travelling between there and the employee's home is better characterised merely as part of the necessity of travelling to and from work. Paragraphs 63-67 of TR 2021/1 discuss the details of commencing or finishing duty at transit points. Sometimes the location where an employee reports for work will be different to where they carry out their substantive duties. The employee will travel to a place (a transit point) from which further travel is needed to reach the place their substantive duties are carried out. In these cases, the cost of travel between home and where the employee regularly reports for work at the transit point is not deductible as it is a prerequisite to gaining or producing their assessable income. However, the cost of travel between the transit point and the place where they carry out their substantive duties will be deductible where it can be said that the employment is the occasion of the expense. The contract of employment, any applicable award and the practical needs of the employment should also be considered. The need for a transit point must fit with what would reasonably be expected by the duties of employment and not the private characteristics of the employee, for example, where they live in relation to where they report for work. When considering if the cost of travel from a transit point is deductible, it is also relevant, but not determinative to consider where the employee commences their employment, and whether the employee is under the direction and control of the employer at that time. The need to be under direction and control must be explained by the duties of employment and the need to travel for work. Paragraph 130 of TR 95/22 provides ... that the cost of travelling between home and work is generally incurred to put the building worker in a position to perform duties of employment rather than in the performance of those duties. Paragraph 131 of TR 95/22 - provides the High Court's decision where travel expenses were incurred between home and work. In Lunney's case Williams, Kitto and Taylor JJ stated that (CLR at 498-499; ATFD at 412-413): 'The question whether the fares which were paid by the appellants are deductible under section 51 should not and, indeed, cannot be solved simply by a process of reasoning which asserts that because expenditure on fares from a taxpayers' residence to his place of employment or place of business is necessary if assessable income is to be derived, such expenditure must be regarded as "incidental and relevant" to derivation of income...But to say expenditure on fares is a prerequisite to the earning of a taxpayers income is not to say that such expenditure is incurred in or in the course of gaining or producing their income'. We do not consider that you commence work when you leave your home to travel to work or to a worksite. Therefore, you are unable to claim a deduction for travel between your home and workplace as this is considered to be a private expense. | Detailed Reasoning - Question 3: When defining what is travel between workplaces, subsection 25-100(2) of the ITAA 1997 includes a place where a taxpayer is "engaged in activities to gain or produce assessable income". Deductions are not available under section 25-100 for travel that involves a private residence (subsection 25-100(3)). In addition, the deduction available under subsection 25-100(1) of the ITAA 1997 is limited to the transport expenses incurred in travelling between workplaces. The section cannot have application to travel "between the alternative workplace and home", as previously permitted by, for example, TR 95/22, namely: '167. A deduction is allowable for the cost of travel from a building worker's normal workplace to other workplaces. The cost of travel from the alternate workplace back to the normal workplace or directly home is also an allowable deduction. This travel is undertaken in the performance of a building worker's duties. It is incurred in the course of gaining assessable income and is allowable as a deduction. 168. Example: David, a building supervisor, travels from his normal work site to his employer's head office to attend a meeting. After the meeting he travels directly home. The cost of each journey is an allowable deduction to David.' Section 25-100 of the ITAA 1997 will apply in respect of the first leg of the journey by David, ie when he travels from his normal workplace to his employer's head office. However, it cannot apply to the return trip home because this leg of the journey does not meet the requirement in subsection 25-100(2) and is, in any event, excluded by subsection 25-100(3). Furthermore, a deduction is only available under subsection 25-100(1) for the return trip by David from the second workplace (head office) to the first (normal workplace) if the requirements of subsection 25-100(2) are satisfied. This is considered consistent with the decision in Lunney & Hayley v FC of T (1958) 100 CLR 478 where the cost of getting to and returning from an income-earning activity was held to be a private expense. | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your circumstances: The cost of travelling between home and work is generally incurred to put the employee in a position to perform duties of employment rather than in the performance of those duties. In your case you are not able to claim a deduction for home to work travel as it is considered to be a private expense as these costs are not incurred in the gaining or producing of your assessable income. An itinerant worker is someone who travels from place to place and has no fixed place of work, with a degree of uncertainty of the location that you will be working. In your case, you have specific worksites to visit to start your day, therefore, you are not an itinerant worker. Whilst you are not able to claim a deduction for home to work travel, if you make trips from one work site location to alternative worksites during your working day you are able to claim these travel expenses. This is an allowable deduction as it is undertaken during the course of gaining your assessable income. | Detailed Reasoning - Logbook: Separate private from business use If you use a motor vehicle for both business and private use, you must be able to correctly identify and justify the percentage that you are claiming as business use. The percentage that is for private use isn't claimable. It is important to keep records, and you can use a logbook or diary to record private versus business travel. Travelling between your home and your place of business is considered private use and is not deductible. In addition to written evidence to substantiate car expenses, taxpayer's using the logbook method must support their claim by appropriate logbook records. The first year in which car expenses are claimed using the logbook method, a logbook recording each business journey must be kept for a minimum continuous period of at least 12-weeks at any time in the year. Odometer records must also be kept showing the odometer reading of the car at the beginning and the end of the 12-week period. The logbook must include for each business trip: (a) the date the trip began and ended; (b) odometer readings at the start and end of the trip; (c) kilometres travelled on the journey; and (d) the purpose of the trip. The record must be made at the end of the trip or as soon as possible afterwards. Where 2 or more business journeys are made consecutively during the one day, only one logbook entry for that day is required. In addition, the logbook must contain the following information: (a) when the 12-week period began and ended; (b) odometer readings at the beginning and end of the period; (c) total number of kilometres travelled during the period; (d) total number of business kilometres travelled during the period on trips recorded in the logbook; and (e) percentage of business kilometres to total kilometres. The logbook should take into account all relevant matters including any variation in the pattern of the use of the car (eg for holidays).

Reasons for decision: Section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) allows a deduction for losses and outgoings to the extent to which they are incurred in gaining or producing assessable income except when the outgoings are of a capital, private or domestic nature.