Passing work on the way to somewhere else
3.48
An employee may pass a permanent workplace on the way to or from a temporary workplace.
If the employee stops and performs substantive duties at the permanent workplace then there are 2 journeys – ordinary commuting between home and the permanent workplace and a business journey between the permanent workplace and the temporary workplace.
Tax relief will be available for the cost of the second of these journeys – but not the first.
3.49
Where the employee does not stop at the permanent workplace, or any stop is incidental to the business journey, all of the journey is business travel.
Example
Darren drives each day between his home in Southampton and his office in Winchester. One day he has to travel on business to Birmingham and back.
He drives directly from home to Birmingham but stops off at his office to pick up some papers.
His stop is incidental to his business journey. His business journey is from his home in Southampton to Birmingham and back.
Tax relief is available for the cost of his journey from his home to Birmingham and back.
Example
Andrew drives each day between his home in Gloucester and his office in Bristol. One day he needs to attend a training event in Bath.
Rather than travelling directly to Bath from his home he has to stop off at his office in Bristol to take part in a telephone conference about a project he has been working on.
After the telephone conference has finished he drives to the training event in Bath.
As Andrew has stopped off at his workplace to carry out substantive duties on the way to the training event in Bath the first part of his journey between home and Bristol is ordinary commuting.
Tax relief is available for the cost of his journey from Bristol to Bath, and from Bath back to his home address as this is travel to a temporary workplace.