Managers working across sites

Example

June is a manager within a government department with staff located in offices in Birmingham and London. June lives near to Birmingham and uses the Birmingham office as her main base, where she performs many of the duties of her employment and considers it her permanent workplace. She has a desk there and her personal assistant works there.

June is expected to visit her staff in London regularly, she spends 3 days a week in Birmingham and 2 days a week in London. She does not have a permanent desk in the London office although there is always a desk available for her to use near her team.

June’s travel to the London office is regular and as her attendance is simply to carryout the ongoing duties of her management role it’s neither to perform a task of limited duration or for some other temporary purpose. The London office is, therefore, a second permanent workplace.

June is entitled to tax relief for the cost she incurs on travelling between the Birmingham and London offices as this is travel in the performance of the duties. She is not entitled to tax relief for travel from her home to either the Birmingham or London offices as this is ordinary commuting.

Example

Helen is a senior manager in a large banking group which has its head office in London. She lives in Leeds and has a permanent workplace at the company’s Leeds office where she carries out the ongoing duties of her role.

Each week Helen needs to travel to the London office to attend various specific management board meetings. She travels to London 3 days each week for this purpose.

Helen’s attendance at the London office is regular, however because it’s purely for the purpose of attending specifically arranged management meetings rather than for the purpose of carrying out the ongoing duties of her role, her attendance is for a temporary purpose. As such the London office is capable of being a temporary workplace.

Helen’s attendance at the London office 3 days a week is, however, more than 40% of her working time and is expected to last longer than 24 months. The London office is, therefore, a permanent workplace.

Example

Ajit works for a sales company managing teams in Reading and Oxford. The company’s head office is in London.

Ajit needs to split his time equally between the Reading and Oxford offices to carry out his management duties. He has a desk and computer in both offices.

Once a week he is also travels to the London office to attend a regular management meeting with all the managers across the company.

Both the Reading and Oxford offices are permanent workplaces as Ajit attends them regularly and his attendance is for the ongoing duties of his role rather than to complete a task of limited duration or for some other temporary purpose.

Therefore he is entitled to tax relief for the costs he incurs in travelling between Oxford and Reading but he is not entitled to tax relief for the costs he incurs in travelling from his home to either the Oxford or Reading offices.

Whilst Ajit’s travel to the London office is regular the purpose of his visits is self-contained therefore his attendance is for a temporary purpose and the London office is a temporary workplace.