Private ruling: Travel between workplaces
Published: July 2011

Ruling: Q1: Are you entitled to claim the cost of travelling by road vehicle from your residence, where you carry on a business, to the city in order to get to a place of employment? | A1: No

Relevant facts and circumstances: You operate a primary production business on the property where you reside with your spouse. You also derive income from a company as a professional working in remote areas of the state. In order to get to the places where you perform the work, you have to drive from your property to a major airport. From there you are flown by the company to the relevant work area. Each time you travel to the work area you take maps, reports, laptop computer and swag. The swag includes a pillow, mattress and sleeping bag which are essential for survey work in isolated areas. The maps, reports, laptop computer and swag are carried on each trip. Upon returning home you prepare reports for despatch to the company after analysing the results of your findings.


Reasons for decision: Summary: Section 25-100 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) allows a deduction for travel expenses incurred when travelling between workplaces. Travel between workplaces includes travel between a place of business and a place of employment from which you derive assessable income. However, subsection 25-100(3) of the ITAA 1997 denies any deduction for expenditure on travel between workplaces if one of the workplaces is also a place at which you reside. Section 25-100 of the ITAA 1997 does not preclude the operation of section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997 in circumstances where the travel expenses arise from the income earning activity, for example the transport of bulky equipment that is used in the employment activity. You carry a swag, laptop computer, maps and reports with you on each visit to the work sites. The swag consists of your bedding and is therefore private in nature as it is not equipment used in the actual performance of your duties. The laptop computer, maps and reports are not considered to constitute bulky equipment. As you reside at the property from which you carry on a business of primary production and commute from there to a major airport before being transported to the site where you will perform your duties, it is considered that no deduction is available to you for the travel between your residence and the airport because of the operation of subsection 25-100(3) of the ITAA 1997.

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