3.32
Some employees have a job where their duties are defined by reference to a particular geographical area. Where these employees have no other permanent workplace the geographical area will be their permanent workplace.
In each case the test will be whether the employee’s duties are defined by reference to a particular geographical area.
It is important to remember that an employee will only have a geographical area as their permanent workplace where all the following conditions are met.
- The employee has no other permanent workplace.
- The employee attends the area in the performance of their duties.
- The employee has a job where the duties are defined by reference to a geographical area.
Example
Henry lives in Norwich and is a relief manager for a chain of East Anglian regional tourist board offices. He shares responsibility for providing cover for all the offices, attending an office for a full day on each occasion.
There is no regular pattern to his work. His duties are defined by reference to a particular geographical area.
As the area is his permanent workplace Henry is not entitled to tax relief for his non-business travel costs.
Example
Liz is a social worker. Her duties are defined by reference to an area but she has an office which she regularly attends. Although much of her time is spent visiting clients within her area, her office is a permanent workplace.
So her travel between home and the office is ordinary commuting for which she is not entitled to tax relief.
Her travel to and from the clients is business travel.
Example
Hugh is employed by a firm of land agents. His contract of employment defines his duties by reference to the county of Lancashire. Hugh does not live in Lancashire.
However, Hugh actually works in a different office each day of the week but in the same office on the same day each week.
Hugh is not entitled to tax relief for any of his journeys from home to any of the offices including his travel from the edge of Lancashire to any of the offices he visits.
This is because the rules for areas do not apply since Hugh has 5 permanent workplaces (see paragraph 3.10).
3.33
For employees who have an area treated as their permanent workplace, the whole of the geographical area is the workplace.
So if they live outside that area the journey between home (or any other place they visit other than in the performance of the duties of that employment) and the edge of the geographical area is ordinary commuting with no tax relief available for the cost of that journey.
Example
Charlotte is employed as a gamekeeper on a large country estate. She does not work at any particular site; her duties are defined in terms of the estate as a whole. The estate as a whole is her permanent workplace.
Charlotte lives outside the estate. She is not entitled to tax relief for the cost of her travel between home and the boundaries of the estate – that travel is ordinary commuting.
Example
Mark works on the London Underground network. He has no office and his duties are defined by reference to the area served by the network – so the whole of this geographical area is his permanent workplace.
Mark lives in Leeds. Each Monday he travels to London and stays in a hotel before returning home on Friday. He is entitled to tax relief for the full cost of the business journeys he makes within the geographical area served by the London Underground network.
No tax relief is available for the cost of his journey between home and the edge of that geographical area or for the cost of his hotel accommodation in London. These costs are attributable to ordinary commuting.
3.34
An employee whose duties are defined by reference to a particular geographical area is entitled to tax relief for the full cost of business travel:
- made within the geographical area
- to other workplaces outside the area
Example
Hope lives in Perth and is employed by a Scottish utility company. She has no office and her duties are defined by reference to the whole of the geographical area of Scotland which is her permanent workplace.
Sometimes Hope has to travel long distances within Scotland and occasionally she goes to London on business. This often involves meals while travelling and staying in hotels.
Hope is entitled to tax relief for these travel costs in full.
3.35
Where an employee has no site that is their permanent workplace and the duties of the employment are defined by reference to a geographical area, the occasional performance of duties outside that area will not prevent the area from being a permanent workplace.
Example
Gary is a police officer. He has a community liaison role which mainly involves visiting schools and other organisations within the area covered by his police authority. Although nominally attached to a particular station, Gary does not regularly attend that station and no particular site qualifies as his permanent workplace.
However, his duties are defined by reference to the area covered by the police authority, so that geographical area is his permanent workplace.
Each year Gary visits universities across the country to recruit new officers. He visits each university for a temporary purpose. These visits do not change his permanent workplace which remains the geographical area covered by his police authority.