Travel expenses

Travel expenses

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A client is working as a self employed consultant and we seem to disagree on claiming travel expenses.

The client works from home and travels to four sites on a regular basis with the same firm, the travel can be substantial in England and Scotland. He travels from home each day and back home each night, round trip 270 miles. He prepares reports at home but when he is at the workplace he stays there for the whole day. The substantive duties are on the site. I told him that he could claim travel if he was travelling to different sites on the same day or vising a potential client but the ordinary commuting couldn't be claimed from home to the sites.

The case that springs to mind to support this is the Miners v Atkinson case S337 ITEPA 2003 and Horton v Young.

Is there anything that I am missing to support the travel claim, the amount is about £12,000.

If the contract was temporary, less that 24 months and the movement from site to site sporadic would this support the claim as itinerant with the four different sites which he works on,  althought he did state that he works there for the whole day.

My advise would be to claim any travel from site to site but not from home to site, can anyone advise differently.

Replies (4)

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By andrew.hyde
25th Apr 2014 11:59

No milk today?

This sounds a bit like the milkman in Powell v Jackman.

Have a look at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/bim37635.htm.  I think you need to establish the geographic relationship between the work sites and home.  Are the work sites grouped at a distance from the home base?  Or is home in the middle of them?

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By Marky
25th Apr 2014 12:54

Yes, home base Scotland, sites Glasgow Edinburgh, Workington and Whitehaven.

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By ACDWebb
25th Apr 2014 13:15

Samadian at point?

HERE

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By Marky
25th Apr 2014 13:39

Yes, I have read the case and my view is that he can only claim from site to site.

But what if he travels to work in Edinburgh for two days, one day in Workington and two days in Whitehaven. The following week four days Glasgow and one day Workington then is he itinerant and have a case for claiming.

Are the current cases now saying that you should not claim for anything if your work place is at home.

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