Private ruling: Work related travel expenses
Date of advice: 6 August 2025
Published: 13 October 2025
Ruling period: Year ending 30 June 20XX
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 20XX

Ruling: Q1: Can you claim a tax deduction under section 25-100 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) for travel using your vehicle between your patients and either of your clinics? | A1: Yes. | Q2: Can you claim a tax deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 for travel on days when you transport Equipment A in your vehicle and use it during a home visit? | A2: Yes, provided it is not transported as a matter of choice or convenience. | Q3: Can you claim a tax deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 for travel on days when you transport work-related items (excluding Equipment A) in your vehicle and use them during a home visit? | A3: No. | Q4: Can you claim a tax deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 for travel between your home and either of your clinics on days when no home visits are conducted? | A4: No.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are a health professional operating as a sole trader. You reside in Town B. You primarily operate your business across 2 fixed clinic locations in Town C and D. You provide additional services through home visits whilst travelling to or from either clinic. On rare occasions, you see patients at your home for emergency calls. You provided us with details on the days that you work at the clinics located in Town C and Town D. Your travel consists of the following categories: • Home to either clinic and return (no home visits). • Home to a patient's premises, followed by travel to either clinic. • Clinic to a patient's premises, followed by return home. You provided your fee schedule for clinic and home visits. You only conduct home visits for patients you are already familiar with, and only when they are unable to attend your clinic due to transport issues or health-related reasons. How often you see the patients at their home is dependent upon their circumstances. During the 20XX-XX income year, home visits occurred either weekly or monthly. You use your vehicle for both work and private purposes. You store and carry the following items in your vehicle between your home, your patients and the clinics: 1. A portable storage unit The unit measures XXXX, weighing X kg when empty and approximately X kg when fully packed. It contains the following: 1) Medical instruments and supplies; • One medical examination tool, less than X kg; • One medical testing device, less than X kg; and • Other medical supplies, less than X kg. You have chosen not to maintain multiple sets of the testing device and the examination tool due to their cost. Instead, you find it more convenient to keep these instruments in your vehicle-even though they are not used at every home visit-so they remain readily accessible for home visits or occasional use at your residence. This approach eliminates the need for maintaining multiple sets. 2) One office tablet and one charger, combined weight of X kg; and 3) Small items. 2. A laptop The laptop, along with a spare charger and disc player stored in a carrying bag, weighs X kg in total. 3. A portable fridge The fridge measures XXXX and weighs X kg when empty. It is used to store daily office consumables purchased near your home and is particularly useful in summer. 4. Equipment A Equipment A measures XXXX and weighs X kg. Its use during home visits provides comfort and convenience for both you and your patients. You typically use the equipment at least once a week or fortnight during these visits. There have been occasions when you brought the equipment but did not end up using it due to emerging circumstances. 5. Office waste You have accumulated a substantial amount of old paperwork, including cards, books, and sensitive documents too bulky for your office shredder. These are routinely transported back home for secure disposal. 6. Miscellaneous items You also use your vehicle to transport various miscellaneous items. Both clinics are not used for other purposes and remain closed on non-trading days. You employ staff and contractors to help operate both clinics. Each clinic is equipped with the following: • Medical equipment and supplies; • Office furniture and amenities; and • Office equipment. Both clinics are secured with locked doors, screens and windows. General waste and recycling services are available at both locations.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 8-1 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 25-100 | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 900-220

Reasons for decision: Summary: Section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) provides that you can deduct from your assessable income any loss or outgoing to the extent that it is incurred in gaining or producing your assessable income, or it is necessarily incurred in carrying on a business for the purpose of gaining or producing your assessable income, except where the loss or outgoing is capital or private in nature. The expenses of travelling between home and a place of work are generally not deductible as these expenses are of a private nature Lunney v FC of T ; Hayley v FC of T (1958) 100 CLR 478, 7 AITR 166 ( Lunney and Hayley ). | Detailed Reasoning - Travel between two workplaces: Section 25-100 of the ITAA 1997 allows a deduction for travel between workplaces where the taxpayer is an individual, the expense is a transport expense, and it is incurred between workplaces. 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)). A transport expense, as defined in section 900-220 of the ITAA 1997, is a loss or outgoing to do with transport, including the decline in value of a depreciating asset used in connection with transport, but not including a loss or outgoing for accommodation or for food or drink, or expenditure incidental to transport. | Detailed Reasoning - Travel between home and workplaces: Transport expenses between home and workplaces, which are denied as tax deductions under subsection 25-100(3), are also generally not deductible under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 as they are considered private in nature. The Full High Court in Lunney v FC of T ; Hayley v FC of T (1958) 100 CLR 478, 7 AITR 166 ( Lunney and Hayley ) held that the costs of travel between a taxpayer's home and work or business are not deductible as the expenses are incurred in order to enable the taxpayer to earn income but not expenses incurred in the course of earning that income. The principle in Lunney and Hayley (that the cost of travel between home and work is generally incurred to put you in a position to perform your duties, rather than in the performance of those duties) has been considered in many more recent decisions. These decisions confirm that the general principle is not altered by the availability of transport, the lack of suitable public transport, the erratic hours and times of the travel, or the 'on-call' nature of the work. However, there are certain circumstances where it has been accepted that the cost of travelling between home and a workplace is deductible, if you could satisfy one of the following criteria: • where you are required to carry bulky equipment; • where your home can be regarded as a place of business, or • where your work is itinerant. | Detailed Reasoning - Transporting bulky equipment: Where the nature of your work or business activity creates a practical necessity to transport bulky equipment between home and a regular place of work, the expenses of transporting that bulky equipment may be deductible. It is construed by the Commissioner as a narrow exception to the ordinary principle that travel from home to a regular place of work is private and therefore not deductible. To come within this exception it is necessary that: • The equipment is essential for the performance of your income-producing activities; • The equipment isbulky such that transportation by car or other private vehicle is the only realistic option; and • Transporting the items to and from your regular place of work is a practical necessity because there is no secure area for the storage of the equipment provided at the regular place of work or the equipment needs to be transported to a different site each day. However, if equipment is transported as a matter of mere convenience or personal choice, the transport costs are private, and no deduction is allowable. The question of what constitutes 'bulky' equipment must be considered according to the individual circumstances in each case. In FC of T v. Vogt 75 ATC 4073, 5 ATR 274 ( Vogt ), the taxpayer was a professional musician who used his vehicle to transport bulky musical instruments and associated equipment (trumpet, flugelhorn, acoustic bass, electric bass and amplifiers) from his home to his places of employment due to the absence of suitable storage facilities. It was found in Vogt that the taxpayer was entitled to a deduction for home to work travel expenses as he was using his vehicle for work related purposes to transport bulky equipment. In Crestani v. FC of T 98 ATC 2219; (1998) 40 ATR 1037 (Crestani) , Senior Member J Block was of the opinion that the term 'bulky' should not be construed to refer only to an article of large size, such as the musical instrument subject to the decision in the Vogt's Case , but more aptly construed as similar to 'cumbersome' in the sense that it is not portable. In Crestani , the tribunal was of the opinion a toolbox was 'bulky'; it was not easy to lift and could not be carried for any distance. The toolbox measured 57 cm (L) x 28 cm (W) x 25 cm (H) (that is, having a volume of about 0.04 cubic metres) and weighed 27 kg. The toolbox was considered as 'bulky', in the sense of 'cumbersome', and the transport cost was' attributable' to the transportation of such bulky equipment rather than private travel between home and work. Conversely, in Case 43/94 94 ATC 387, a flight sergeant with the Royal Australian Air Force was denied a deduction for the cost of transporting his flying suit and other items used for work purposes such as flying gloves and socks, cotton underwear, torch, dog tags, passport, needle book, and earmuffs. These items were carried in: • a duffle bag measuring 75 cm (L) x 55 cm (W) x 50 cm (D) and weighing 20 kg when packed; • a suit bag which weighed 10 kg when packed, and • a briefcase-sized navigational bag which contained charts, work manuals and study materials. Each aircrew member was provided with a locker measuring 170 cm × 30 cm × 40 cm on base. The taxpayer chose not to use his - citing limited space, lack of security, and personal preference. Instead, he stored his flying gear in his car, believing it improved his work efficiency. It was held that the mode of transporting the items was simply a consequence of the means adopted by the taxpayer to convey him to work. It was considered that the items transported were not of sufficient size or weight to impede transport. | Detailed Reasoning - Home as a place of business: A taxpayer's home may constitute a base of operations if their work commences at or before the time of leaving home to travel to work and the responsibility for completing it is not discharged until the taxpayer attends at their regular place of work. Whether a taxpayer's home constitutes a base of operations depends on the nature and extent of the activities undertaken at home. Taxation Ruling 93/30 - Income tax: deductions for home office expenses (TR 93/30) provides guidance on when an area of the home has the character of a place of business (also known as a sole base of operations) is a question of fact which depends on the particular circumstances of each case. This is likely to be the case where a part of a residence is set aside exclusively for the carrying on of a business by a self-employed person (e.g., a doctor's surgery). In this case, such a doctor would be entitled to a deduction for expenditure incurred in travelling to perform their duties, such as travel to a patient's premises from their home. A place of business will exist only if: • It is a requirement inherent in the nature of the taxpayer's activities that the taxpayer needs a place of business; • The taxpayer's circumstances are such that there is no alternative place of business, and it was necessary to work from home; and • The area of the home is used exclusively or almost exclusively for income producing purposes. | Detailed Reasoning - Itinerant work: The legislation does not provide a definition of the word 'itinerant'. In the absence of a statutory definition, we must look at the ordinary usage of the word. The Macquarie Dictionary defines 'itinerant' s 'travelling from place to place' or 'one who travels from place to place especially for duty or business'. In FC of T v Genys (1987) 17 FCR 495; 87 ATC 4875; (1987) 19 ATR 356 (Geneys case), the Federal Court held that the taxpayer's employment was not itinerant. The taxpayer was a registered nurse who used an employment agency to seek relief work from various hospitals. She was not continuously employed by any one hospital. When a hospital was in need of additional staff, they contacted the agency which would then contact the taxpayer. It was integral to the decision in this case that the taxpayer did not travel after the commencement of her duties. She merely travelled to work and home again. Northrop J (FCR at 498; ATC at 4879; ATR at 359) described itinerant as 'shifting places of work': ... where the taxpayer travels between home and shifting places of work, that is, an itinerant occupation. The question of whether a taxpayer's work is itinerant is one of fact, to be determined according to individual circumstances. It is the nature of each individual's duties and not their occupation or industry that determines if they are engaged in itinerant work. Indicators of itinerancy include: • travel is a fundamental part of the work; and • the existence of a 'web' of workplaces exists such that the taxpayer continually travels from one work site to another, regularly working at more than one work site before returning to their usual place of residence. Taxation Ruling 95/34 - Income tax: employees carrying out Itinerant work - deductions, allowances and reimbursements for transport expenses (TR 95/34) provides guidelines for establishing whether an employee is carrying out itinerant work. While the ruling is aimed at employees, the same principles apply to an individual carrying on a business as a sole trader. TR 95/34 provides clear examples of an itinerant worker, where for this principle to apply, the job must inherently require duties to be performed in multiple locations. Simply choosing to work from a different place than the primary job site does not meet this threshold. | Detailed Reasoning - Question 1: Can you claim a tax deduction under section 25-100 of the ITAA 1997 for travel using your vehicle between your patients and either of your clinics? | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your circumstances: Your direct travel between either of the clinics and your patients are considered travel between workplaces because: • You are engaged in income-producing activities by providing medical consultations at the first place (clinics or patients' premises); • The purpose of your travel to the second place (clinics or patients' premises) is also to provide medical consultations; and • You charge fees for both clinic consultations and home visits as per your fee structure. Therefore, the transport expenses you incur from direct travel between either of the clinics and your patients are tax deductible under section 25-100 of the ITAA 1997. | Detailed Reasoning - Question 2: Can you claim a tax deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 for travel on days when you transport Equipment A in your vehicle and use it during a home visit? | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your circumstances: Equipment A used during home visits to treat patients measures XXXX and weighs X kg. It needs to be transported to various patients' premises. Due to its size and weight, it is impractical to transport the equipment by means other than your vehicle. The equipment that you transport and use during a home visit is considered bulky and is essential in performing your duties for the generating of your assessable income. You are entitled to a deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 for travel on days when you transport and use Equipment A for the generating of your assessable income. It is important to note that, for travel to be eligible for tax deductions, the equipment must be used during the home visit. If the equipment is merely transported for convenience or personal preference without being used, it is generally not considered bulky for deduction purposes. In cases where you reasonably anticipated using the equipment based on prior treatments, but emerging circumstances made its use impractical - deductions may still be considered. Given your familiarity with your patients' conditions, such situations are expected to occur only rarely. | Detailed Reasoning - Question 3: Can you claim a tax deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 for travel on days when you transport work-related items (excluding Equipment A) in your vehicle and use them during a home visit? | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your circumstances: The work-related items (excluding Equipment A) carried in your vehicle are not considered bulky. Portable storage unit The unit, which contains medical instruments, an office tablet, and other small items, measures XXXX and weighs approximately X kg when fully packed. It is not considered bulky for the following reasons: • Non-essential items - Certain items, such as the office tablet and other small accessories, are used in support of your income-generating activities but are not directly involved in delivering the service itself. Their role differs from that of Equipment A. For instance, the absence of Equipment A would prevent a treatment session from proceeding. In contrast, it is difficult to demonstrate that the absence of a tablet would similarly prevent the service from being delivered. • Essential items - While the medical instruments are used in the course of producing your income, none of them are considered large or heavy. The total weight of all medical instruments and supplies stored in the unit is approximately X kg. At this weight, transporting them in your vehicle is viewed more as a matter of personal choice than necessity. Portable fridge While the portable fridge may be considered heavy, it is not an essential item used to produce your income. Office waste The connection between office waste and your income-earning activities is considered too remote. Transporting such waste back to your home for disposal is regarded as a personal choice, given that general waste and recycling services are available at both clinics . Miscellaneous items Various miscellaneous items, including the laptop transported in your vehicle, are not considered bulky for tax deduction purposes. These items either do not meet the criteria for essential work use or are not of sufficient size or weight to justify vehicle transport as the only practical option. Therefore, travel on days when you transport the work-related items (excluding Equipment A) and use them during home visits does not qualify for a tax deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997. | Detailed Reasoning - Question 4: Can you claim a tax deduction under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 for travel between your home and either of your clinics on days when no home visits are conducted? | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your circumstances: You may carry various work-related items including Equipment A in your vehicle when travelling between your home and either of your clinics on days when no home visits are conducted, but this does not constitute the transportation of bulky equipment. Your circumstances differ from those of the taxpayers in examples, as the essential items you transport, the examination tool and the testing device, are neither large nor cumbersome. Furthermore, there appears to be no necessity to transport Equipment A between clinics on alternate days, as both clinics are already equipped with similar equipment. Both premises are secured with locked doors, screens, and windows. The need to transport various items in your vehicle seems to arise primarily from your personal preference, particularly regarding the cost of acquiring additional sets of essential medical instruments and for convenience. Your situation is more comparable to the taxpayer in Case 43/94 , where the items transported were not of a size, weight, or essential nature that altered the fundamentally private character of travel between home and the workplace under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997.