| Disclaimer This edited version has been archived due to the length of time since original publication. It should not be regarded as indicative of the ATO's current views. The law may have changed since original publication, and views in the edited version may also be affected by subsequent precedents and new approaches to the application of the law. You cannot rely on this record in your tax affairs. It is not binding and provides you with no protection (including from any underpaid tax, penalty or interest). In addition, this record is not an authority for the purposes of establishing a reasonably arguable position for you to apply to your own circumstances. For more information on the status of edited versions of private advice and reasons we publish them, see PS LA 2008/4. |
Edited version of your private ruling
Authorisation Number: 1012338994246
This edited version of your ruling will be published in the public register of private binding rulings after 28 days from the issue date of the ruling. The attached private rulings fact sheet has more information.
Please check this edited version to be sure that there are no details remaining that you think may allow you to be identified. If you have any concerns about this ruling you wish to discuss, you will find our contact details in the fact sheet.
Ruling
Subject: Travel expenses
Question
Are you entitled to a deduction for meal and car expenses?
Answer
No
This ruling applies for the following period
Year ended 30 June 2012
The scheme commenced on
1 July 2011
Relevant facts
You are employed in a particular profession and your normal workplace is in City A.
For a number of weeks you were rotated to work in City B, returning to your normal workplace in City A at the end of this period.
The City B employer issued a PAYG payment summary showing an amount for secondment and travel.
You were provided with accommodation but you were still required to pay an amount per fortnight for accommodation. This amount was taken from your wages.
During this period you made a number of trips by car from your home to City B and return.
Relevant legislative provisions
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 8-1
Reasons for decision
Section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 allows a deduction for all losses or outgoings to the extent to which they are incurred in gaining or producing assessable income, except to the extent that they are outgoings of a private or domestic nature.
Certain expenditure is incurred in order to be in a position to be able to derive assessable income, for example unless one arrives at work it is not possible to derive income. This does not mean that the expenditure is incurred in the course of gaining or producing assessable income. Rather, the expenses are incurred to enable the taxpayer to commence income earning activities (Lunney & Hayley v. Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1958) 100 CLR 478; (1958) 11 ATD 404; (1958) 7 AITR 166).
The issue of expenses incurred in relation to accommodation near the work place while maintaining a family residence in another location was considered in FC of T v. Toms 89 ATC 4373; (1989) 20 ATR 466 (Toms' Case).
In Toms' Case, the taxpayer was a forest worker who during the working week lived in a caravan in a bush camp 108 kilometres from his family home in Grafton. He claimed it was too far to travel each day to his work in the forest, so that it was necessary to establish a caravan at the camp. He would return home on weekends. He claimed the costs of maintaining his caravan and other living expenses such as the cost of heating and lighting. It was held that the expenses incurred in relation to the temporary accommodation near the workplace while maintaining a family residence in another location were dictated not by his work but by private considerations, and therefore were not deductible.
In your case, you were working and living in City B for a number of weeks. It is considered that during this period you were living away from home for work rather than travelling on work. That is, during this period you were living in City B and you travelled because your work location had been moved for that period. Travel was not a part of your actual work duties.
As you were not travelling in the course of carrying out employment duties, no deduction is available for the travel and meal expenses you incurred when working away from your usual place of residence. Further to this the essential character of your expenditure is of a private or domestic nature. The expenses incurred by you to stay in close proximity to your work-place were a prerequisite to the earning of assessable income and were not expenses incurred in the course of gaining or producing that income.
Copyright notice
© Australian Taxation Office for the Commonwealth of Australia
You are free to copy, adapt, modify, transmit and distribute material on this website as you wish (but not in any way that suggests the ATO or the Commonwealth endorses you or any of your services or products).
