Private ruling: Travel expenses
Published: September 2013
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2013
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2012

Ruling: Q1: Are you entitled to a deduction for car expenses incurred travelling to and from work to transport the cash tin? | A1: No.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are an employee. As part of your job you are required to accept money and keep the cash tin safe. The offices are closed when you finish work so you do not have the opportunity to deposit the cash tin into a secured area. You are required to take the tin home where you can deposit the tin into the secure area when the offices reopen. The tin does not weigh over 20kg.

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. A deduction is generally not allowable for the cost of travel by an employee between home and their normal workplace as it is considered to be a private expense. The cost of travel between home and work is generally incurred to put the employee in a position to perform duties of employment, rather than in the performance of those duties (see paragraph 77 of Taxation Ruling TR 95/34). However, there are situations where it has been accepted that travel by employees from home to work is deductible. These situations include: · where the employment can be construed as having commenced at the time of leaving home, for example a doctor on call, · where you travel between home and shifting places of work, that is, an itinerant occupation, and · the transportation of bulky equipment in some circumstances. In your situation, your work has not commenced before leaving home and you are not considered itinerant. You do carry some work equipment while travelling therefore the issue of bulky equipment will be addressed further. The question of what constitutes bulky equipment is a question of fact and must be considered according to the individual circumstances of each case. The question of what constitutes bulky equipment was considered in Crestani v . Federal Commissioner of Taxation 98 ATC 2219; (1998) 40 ATR 1037. In that case, the toolbox in question measured 56cm x 25cm x 28cm and weighed approximately 27kg. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) in that case decided that the toolbox was sufficiently cumbersome to be considered bulky. The opinion of the AAT was the toolbox was not easy to lift and could not be carried for any distance and that public transport was not a viable option. In Case 43/94 94 ATC 387; AAT Case 9654 (1994) 29 ATR 1031 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. The items were carried in: · a duffle bag measuring 75cm long x 55cm wide x 50cm deep and weighing 20 kilograms when packed · a suit bag which weighed 10 kilograms when packed, and · a briefcase sized navigational bag which contained charts, work manuals and study materials. It was held that the travel was private in nature and the items were not sufficiently bulky to impede easy transport. The mode of transporting the duffle bag, the navigational bag and the suit bag was simply a consequence of the means adopted in conveying himself to and from his place of employment. In your situation, you carry a cash tin with you when travelling between home and work. We consider the cash tin you carry is not sufficiently cumbersome or heavy to be considered bulky. Based on the decisions in Crestani's case and Case 43/94 the cash tin not considered to be of a size or weight that would make their transportation difficult. Therefore, while we acknowledge that you are required to carry the cash tin with you when you finish work, the cash tin is not considered to be of sufficient bulk that it would change the primary purpose of your journey from one of transporting yourself to and from work to one of transporting the cash tin. Consequently you are not entitled to a deduction.