Private ruling: Accommodation, living expenses and travel
Published: October 2014
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2014 | Year ended 30 June 2015 | Year ended 30 June 2016
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2013

Ruling: Q1: Are you entitled to a deduction for rental and living expenses? | A1: No. | Q2: Are you entitled to a deduction for travel between your home or your rented accommodation and your work site? | A2: No.


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

Reasons for decision: Summary: Section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 allows a deduction for all outgoings to the extent to which they are incurred in gaining or producing assessable income, or are necessarily incurred in carrying on a business for that purpose. However, a deduction is not allowable for outgoings that are of a capital, private or domestic nature. | Detailed Reasoning - Rental and living expenses: Generally, accommodation expenses are private in nature and are not deductible. However, in Lunney v. FC of T (1958) 100 CLR 478 (Lunney's case) the Full High Court laid down the principle that for a deduction to be allowable it is not enough for the expenditure to be an essential prerequisite to the derivation of assessable income. In that case it was held that the costs incurred by a taxpayer in travelling to the place where they work are expenses incurred in order to enable them to earn income but are not expenses incurred in the course of earning that income. The issue of expenses incurred in relation to accommodation near the work place while maintaining a family residence in another location was considered in FC of T v. Toms 89 ATC 4373; (1989) 20 ATR 466 ( Toms' Case ). In Toms' Case , the taxpayer was a forest worker who during the working week lived in a caravan in a bush camp 108 kilometres from his family home in Grafton. He claimed it was too far to travel each day to his work in the forest, so that it was necessary to establish a caravan at the camp. He would return home on weekends. He claimed the costs of maintaining his caravan and other living expenses such as the cost of heating and lighting. The Federal Court considered that the caravan was rendered necessary as much by the taxpayer's choice of the place of his residence in Grafton as by his choice of employment in the forest, and its purpose was to enable him to retain his residence at Grafton although employed in the forest. It was held that the expenses incurred in relation to the temporary accommodation near the workplace while maintaining a family residence in another location were dictated not by his work but by private considerations, and therefore were not deductible. You incur expenses for renting accommodation to enable you to live close to where you work at two locations. However, as in Toms' Case , the expenses are a prerequisite to the earning of assessable income. They are incurred in order to enable you to earn income but are not incurred in the course of gaining or producing that income. A deduction is therefore not allowable for your rental accommodation expenses or for living expenses. | Detailed Reasoning - Travel: Generally the expenses of travel to and from work are not deductible. This is either because such expenditure is private in nature, or because it is not an expense incurred in gaining or producing assessable income. Lunney's case settled the principle, that travel to and from work is ordinarily not deductible. The Full High Court held that costs incurred by a taxpayer in travelling to the place where they work are expenses incurred in order to enable them to earn income but are not expenses incurred in the course of earning that income. The travel is considered to be of an essentially private or domestic nature. While we recognise your particular circumstances, your rented accommodation is considered to be your second home. The cost of your travel between either of your homes and work is private or domestic in nature and, as such, no deduction for travel is allowable.

You have been allocated two work places in which to complete your training. | Your work involves full time, shift and weekend work. | You have rented accommodation in City B from where you travel to either of your work locations. You may also travel directly to one of the work locations from your home.