Private ruling: Work related car expenses - logbook method
Date of advice: 27 March 2020
Published: May 2020
Ruling period: Year ending 30 June 2020 | Year ending 30 June 2021 | Year ending 30 June 2022 | Year ending 30 June 2023
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2019

Ruling: Q1: Can you claim work-related car expenses using the logbook method? | A1: Yes. You are able to claim work-related car expenses using the logbook method.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You work for XXXX. You are a Marine Pilot for the XXXX area. You work a X day on and X day off roster. When you are on rostered days on, you receive work via an allocation system. You receive a call at home from your company's Operations Centre. You are allocated an assignment and once you finish the assignment, you go back to the bottom of the call system and wait at home for your next assignment. You allocate approximately XX - XX minutes for your drive from home to the berth where you are taken out to the vessel you will pilot. You are required to board the vessel approximately XX minutes before sailing. You typically undertake between X to X pilotage assignments per rostered days on call. On average, you will visit X berths in a XX hour period. The berths you visit may be located at the same terminal only a short distance apart or up to XX kilometres apart. Whilst on rostered days on call, you must be available 24 hours a day and will be required to travel to all berth locations within your allocated port areas. Your conditions of employment state that you may also be required to travel outside the normal port area for specific pilotage &/or consultancy duties. The area where you perform your pilotage covers an area of approximately XX nautical miles across the bay and XX miles upriver. You carry out pilotage assignments for every vessel greater than XX metres in length within your allocated pilotage areas. Prior to performing your pilotage, you must access a computer/internet, email and printer from your home in order to plan and prepare for the pilotage operation. You allow approximately X hours to do the planning and ensure your gear is in good working order before you leave home to commence your pilotage assignment. Your employment conditions state that you are allowed 30 minutes for planning at home. There are no facilities to carry out this planning and preparation at your various work sites. When you undertake your pilotage, you must carry certain equipment. This is required by your employer and by state legislation. Your employment conditions state that you are based at your own residence. They also state that occasionally you will be required to attend meetings at the office but you will be given adequate notice of this. On average, you visit head office once a month to attend meetings or to attend to other business matters. Your employment conditions also state that the company will not provide facilities for storage of pilotage equipment, phone and computers to receive work allocations and passage planning information. You have begun keeping a log book to calculate the percentage of your car use that is work related. Your employment conditions state that pilotage equipment should be stored at the Pilot's residence at all times unless en-route to a pilotage assignment.

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 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. Generally, this means that expenses from home to work are not deductible. In some circumstances, however, there may be an exception. | Detailed Reasoning - Itinerant employment: A deduction may be allowed for home to work travel expenses in certain circumstances. These circumstances include: · The employee's home constitutes a place of employment and travel is between two places of employment · The employee's employment is inherently of an itinerant nature, and · The employee has to transport by vehicle bulky equipment necessary for employment These scenarios above may apply to you in your current work situation. To determine whether you are an itinerant worker, Taxation Ruling TR 95/34 Income tax: employees carrying out itinerant work - deductions, allowances and reimbursements for transport expenses (TR 95/34) provides some guidelines to assist. Characteristics of itinerancy can include: a) Travel is a fundamental part of the employee's work - In your situation you are required to commence preparation for your pilotage assignment before you leave home. Once preparation and planning has been completed, you require your motor vehicle to travel to the port where you will be picked up and taken out to the ship or vessel to perform your pilotage assignment. On completion of your assignment you require your motor vehicle so that you may return home and wait to be allocated a new assignment. | Detailed Reasoning - b) You regularly work at more than one place of employment before returning to your usual place of residence: You have provided a sample roster from a work day which shows that during those 24 hours on call, you undertake an average of 2 pilotage assignments. You have provided information that the berths where you commence these assignments may be located at the same terminal only a short distance apart or up to 15 kilometres apart. You undertake pilotage on an average of 9 to 11 ships per roster (9 days on) and may attend 16 berths or more during the course of those 9 days. | Detailed Reasoning - a) You have a degree of uncertainty of location in your employment: Your pilotage assignments are generally undertaken in the Port of Brisbane. On occasion you attend other ports and infrequently attend the head office located in Brisbane. On any given rostered day on, you are not sure which port you will be directed to for your pilotage assignments. | Detailed Reasoning - b) You are required to carry equipment from home to different work sites as your employer does not provide a place to store such equipment: Your employment conditions state that your employer will not provide a place to store your equipment. You require the equipment both at home in the planning stage of your work and once you commence your pilotage assignments. As you undertake assignments at a different location for each assignment, you are unable to store your equipment at these locations. Although the equipment you carry is not bulky, you are not able to store it at work. It can therefore be considered that you are required to carry your equipment from home to work and back again. | Detailed Reasoning - c) Your home constitutes a base of operations: Your employment conditions state that you are based at home. In addition, you commence work prior to leaving home. You have provided information to show that you undertake approximately ½ hour to 1 hour of preparation prior to leaving home to travel to your pilotage assignments. The equipment you require for the assignments is not available once you arrive at the ship. You do not complete the assignment until you have arrived back at home. Based on the factors outlined above, it is considered that you are an itinerant worker. You are able to claim deductions for car expenses using the logbook method, when you travel between your home residence and the ships where you undertake your pilotage assignments. You must ensure that you keep a logbook to calculate the percentage of your car use that is work-related. The logbook must be kept for a minimum continuous period of 12 weeks. You must also keep odometer readings for the period you maintain a logbook. See QC 31951 and Car expenses poster for further information.

Reasons for decision: These reasons for decision accompany the Notice of private ruling . While these reasons are not part of the private ruling, we provide them to help you to understand how we reached our decision.