Private ruling: Travel expenses
Date of advice: 27 August 2015
Published: August 2015
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2015
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2014

Ruling: Q1: Can you claim a deduction for the cost of travel between your home and either of your two places of work? | A1: No | Q2: Can you claim a deduction for the cost of travel between your two alternative places of work? | A2: Yes

Relevant facts and circumstances: You work with the primary place of employment at Location A. Your second place of employment is Location B. On specified days you have travelled to Location B approximately X times in the financial year; home to Location B to home. You receive reasonable notice of your work requirements at Location B. On the other days you travel from home to Location B to Location A to home which equated to approximately X times during the financial year You have not received an allowance or reimbursement for the travel undertaken.

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

Reasons for decision: Summary: Section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 allows a deduction for all losses and outgoings to the extent to which they are incurred in gaining or producing assessable income except where the outgoings are of a capital, private or domestic nature, or relate to the earning of exempt income. Taxation Ruling 95/14 discusses the deductibility of expenses incurred by employees engaged in the relevant profession. This ruling recognises that a deduction for travel expenses by an employee from home to their place of employment is generally considered to be private in nature and not deductible, unless the employee is considered to be an itinerant employee. Taxation Ruling 95/34 discusses the indicators used to determine whether an employee is carrying out itinerant work. The following indicators determine a worker's itinerancy: a) Travel is a fundamental part of the employee's work; b) The existence of a 'web' of work places in the employee's regular employment, that is the employee has no fixed place of work; c) The employee continually travels from one work site to another. An employee must regularly work at more than one work site before returning to his or her usual place of residence d) Other factors that may indicate itinerancy include: a. the employee has a degree of uncertainty of location in his or her employment b. the employee's home constitutes a base of operations; c. the employee has to carry bulky equipment from home to different work sites; In your case, travel is not a fundamental part of your work as you are not required to travel to several locations per day to carry out your duties ( Federal Commissioner of Taxation v. Wiener 78 ATC 4006; (1978) 8 ATR 33). You do not have a 'web' of work places nor is there any uncertainty in the location you work at on each day with each location considered to be a regular and fixed place of employment. There is nothing to indicate that your home is a base of operation and there is no suggestion that you are required to carry bulky equipment from home to different work locations. You do not receive an allowance in recognition of your need to travel continually between different work sites. Therefore, your employment is not considered to be itinerant in nature and the expenses you incur for travel between your home and either of the two locations are considered to be private in nature and are not deductible under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997. However, a deduction is allowable for the cost of travelling directly between two places of employment or between a place of employment and a place of business (TR 95/34), provided that the travel has been undertaken for the purpose of enabling the person to engage in income producing activities. Therefore you will be eligible to claim a deduction for travel between the two locations.