Private ruling: Home to work travel expenses
Published: September 2012
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2012
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2011

Ruling: Question and answer | Are you entitled to a deduction for home to work travel expenses? | No.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are required to take equipment to work as part of your work duties. This equipment cannot be stored at the work place. Some of the equipment is carried in a bag which has wheels and the other equipment you carry in addition to the bag on wheels.

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 (ITAA 1997) deals with general deductions and allows a deduction for all losses or outgoings to the extent to which they are incurred in gaining or producing assessable income, except to the extent that they are outgoings of a capital, private or domestic nature. 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. However, the Commissioner accepts that expenses incurred by employees in travelling to and from work are deductible in certain circumstances. One of the exceptions to the general view is where the employee is required to transport bulky equipment necessary for employment. Paragraphs 63 and 64 of Taxation Ruling TR 95/34 explain that a deduction may be allowed in circumstances where: · the cost can be attributed to the transportation of bulky equipment rather than to private travel between home and work · it is essential to transport the equipment to and from work and it is not done as a matter of convenience or personal choice, and · there are no secure facilities available for storage of the bulky equipment at the work place. The question of what constitutes bulky equipment must be considered according to the individual circumstances in each case. To establish if the equipment you carry is bulky, consideration must be given to its size and weight. In Crestani v. FC of T 98 ATC 2219; (1998) 40 ATR 1037 (Crestani's Case) , a toolbox which measured 57 x 28 x 25 centimetres and weighed 27 kilograms 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. The employer did not provide a secure storage area for the toolbox and the use of public transport was not a viable option. In Case 43/94 94 ATC 387; AAT Case 9654 (1994) 29 ATR 1031, the taxpayer, a flight sergeant with the Royal Australian Air force, was denied a deduction for the cost of transporting items required to and from work in a duffle bag, a briefcase sized navigational bag and on occasions a suit bag. The duffle bag when packed weighed 20 kilograms and measured 75cm long, 55 cm wide and 50 cm deep. The suit bag weighed 10 kilograms. It was considered that the duffle bag was not of sufficient size or weight to impede facile transport. In your case you are required to transport equipment to work. There is no secure facility at work to store this equipment. Based on your individual circumstances, it is not considered that the equipment is sufficiently cumbersome or heavy to be considered bulky. It is in fact, less than the equipment carried in Crestani's Case. Therefore, you are not entitled to a deduction for home to work travel.

Please check this edited version to be sure that there are no details remaining that you think may allow you to be identified. If you have any concerns about this ruling you wish to discuss, you will find our contact details in the fact sheet.