Questions and Answers
Travel expenses for Directors based at home
I normally work from home but have recently won a contract through my Limited Company to work at my client’s office. Will I be able to claim the cost of my travel expenses to and from the office?
HMRC will allow a claim for travel costs to any place where the employee or director’s attendance is necessary in the performance of their duties. There are however two situations where such a claim will be denied:
- any claims that include private journeys and
- any journey which is ‘ordinary commuting’ or substantially ordinary commuting.
Ordinary commuting is defined as the journey between the employee’s home and a ‘permanent place of work’. A ‘permanent place of work’ is a place where an employee is expected to work for more than 40% of his/her time over a period of 24 months or the duration of their employment if shorter.
So in answer to your question, if the contract is for more than 24 months (or likely to last for more than 24 months) and 40% or more of the working week is spent at the work place then travel expense claims will be denied.
Your local TaxAssist Accountant would be happy to help with any issues around travel claims or any other of your accounting or tax needs. Contact us to be put in touch with your local office.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you are running your business from home, you can claim some of your home expenses against taxable income. This includes the simplified use of home claim which is a flat rate based on hours worked at home. Or you can claim a proportion of home expenses based on how much of your home is used and how often. Find more information click here.
Date published 11 Jul 2014
This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.Choose the right accounting firm for you
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