Edited version of private ruling

Authorisation Number: 1011866537723

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Ruling

Subject: Home to work travel

Question

Are you entitled to a deduction for home to work travel?

Answer

No.

This ruling applies for the following periods

Year ended 30 June 2009

Year ended 30 June 2010

Year ended 30 June 2011

Year ended 30 June 2012

Year ended 30 June 2013

Year ended 30 June 2014

Year ended 30 June 2015

The scheme commenced on

1 July 2008

Relevant facts

You are a pilot.

You are required to carry a flight bag which contains manuals, booklets, ear protection, sunglasses, pilot torch and batteries, safety vest plus other stationary among other things. The bag is 500mm x 460mm x 250mm and weighs 13 kg.

There is no secure storage available at your work place.

Amendments to charts and maps are delivered to your home and these are required to be filed prior to the due date of the amendments.

Where your duty includes an overnight stay, you carry an additional bag containing uniform, clothing and toiletries. The bag is 500mm x 500mm x 300mm and weighs 10 to 12 kg.

Relevant legislative provisions

Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 8-1

Reasons for decision

Section 8-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) deals with general deductions and 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 capital, private or domestic nature.

Generally the expenses of travel to and from work are not deductible. This is either because such expenditure is private in nature, or because it is not an expense incurred in gaining or producing assessable income.

The case of Lunney & Hayley v. Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1958) 100 CLR 478; (1958) 7 AITR 166; (1958) 11 ATD 404 settled the principle that travel to and from work is ordinarily not deductible. The Full High Court held that costs incurred by a taxpayer in travelling to the place where they work are expenses incurred in order to enable them to earn income but are not expenses incurred in the course of earning that income. The travel is considered to be of an essentially private or domestic nature.

Bulky equipment

The Commissioner accepts that expenses incurred by employees in travelling to and from work are deductible in certain circumstances. One of the exceptions to the general view is where the employee is required to transport bulky equipment necessary for employment. Paragraphs 63 and 64 of Taxation Ruling TR 95/34 explain that a deduction may be allowed in circumstances where:

the cost can be attributed to the transportation of bulky equipment rather than to private travel between home and work

it is essential to transport the equipment to and from work and it is not done as a matter of convenience or personal choice, and

there are no secure facilities available for storage of the bulky equipment at the work place.

The question of what constitutes bulky equipment must be considered according to the individual circumstances in each case. To establish if the equipment you carry is bulky, consideration must be given to its size and weight. 

In Crestani v. FC of T 98 ATC 2219; (1998) 40 ATR 1037 (Crestani's Case), a toolbox which measured 57 x 28 x 25 centimetres and weighed 27 kilograms was considered as bulky, in the sense of cumbersome, and the transport cost was attributable to the transportation of such bulky equipment rather than private travel between home and work. The employer did not provide a secure storage area for the toolbox and the use of public transport was not a viable option.

In Case 43/94 94 ATC 387; AAT Case 9654 (1994) 29 ATR 1031, the taxpayer, a flight sergeant with the Royal Australian Air force, was denied a deduction for the cost of transporting items required to and from work in a duffle bag, a briefcase sized navigational bag and on occasions a suit bag. The duffle bag when packed weighed 20 kilograms and measured 75cm long, 55 cm wide and 50 cm deep. The suit bag weighed 10 kilograms. It was considered that the duffle bag was not of sufficient size or weight to impede facile transport. 

In your case, you are required to carry a flight bag which weighs approximately 13 kg and another bag containing your uniform and other personal items and weighs 10 to 12 kg.

Based on your individual circumstances, it is not considered that the cases are sufficiently cumbersome or heavy to be considered bulky. They are in fact, less that the equipment carried in Crestani's Case.

Employment commenced before leaving home

Another circumstance where the Commissioner accepts that expenses incurred by employees in travelling to and from work are deductible is when the taxpayer's employment can be construed as having commenced before or at the time of leaving home. 

In FC of T v. Collings 76 ATC 4254; 6 ATR 476, the taxpayer was engaged in the conversion of a computer facility and often used a personal computer at home that was connected by telephone to her employer's computer. If the problem could not be fixed through the telephone connection, the taxpayer was required to travel to the site. It was held that travel from home to the site was an allowable deduction as the performance of duties had commenced and the travel was effectively between two work sites (see Taxation Ruling IT 112).

In your case, it is considered that the filing of the charts or maps, while delivered to your home, could have been filed while at work and it was your choice to file them prior to leaving home. Furthermore, the incidental nature of the filing at home is not sufficient to change the character of the travel into a work related expense.

Conclusion

You are not carrying bulky equipment and your work has not commenced prior to leaving home. Therefore, you are not entitled to a deduction for travel expenses between home and work, either when only carrying the flight bag or when also carrying the additional bag under section 8-1 of the ITAA 1997.