New guidance on commuting expenses for hybrid workers
You probably know that you can’t claim tax relief for the expenses associated with travelling to your usual place of work. However, what is the position if you're a “hybrid” worker? The guidance on this has recently been updated for clarity, so what's the answer?
The rules surrounding which journeys you can and cannot claim tax relief for travel expenses are complex, resulting in HMRC publishing guidance with over 50 examples. As a general rule, there is no tax relief for the cost of a journey which is ordinary commuting or private travel. Ordinary commuting means travel to and from a permanent workplace.
For hybrid workers, a question arises as to whether their home or their office should be considered to be their permanent workplace. The guidance on the tax deductibility of commuting expenses for hybrid workers (those who have the flexibility to choose whether to work from home or in the office) has been updated. This puts beyond doubt that journeys from home to a base office will be ordinary commuting. Therefore, tax relief is not available for such costs.
Note that the situation is different if the homeworking arrangements are not voluntary. For example, if you must work from home as a requirement of your job, you should be able to claim tax relief for expenses incurred travelling to your employer.
Related Topics
-
Review how much VAT charged on sales?
A recent Tribunal case ruled that HMRC’s logic was flawed in dealing with a “what is the supply” challenge. Does this mean you should check that you are charging VAT correctly on your sales if there could be doubt about what you are selling?
-
Are buy-to-let companies worth the hype?
There’s no doubt that landlords have been on the receiving end of multiple tax hikes in recent years. So called “property experts” will tell you that the best tax-saving strategy is to operate through a company. Are they right?
-
Electronic VAT return