TABLE OF CONTENTS


Itinerant work

Last modified: 15 Jun 2020 QC 31983

The following factors may indicate you do itinerant work:

  • Travel is a fundamental part of your work, as the very nature of your work, not just because it is convenient to you or your employer.
  • You have a 'web' of work places you travel to, throughout the day.
  • You continually travel from one work site to another.
  • Your home is a base of operations – if you start work at home and can't complete it until you attend your work site.
  • You are often uncertain of the location of your work site.
  • Your employer provides an allowance in recognition of your need to travel continually between different work sites and you use this allowance to pay for your travel

Travel between home and work and between workplaces

Last modified: 15 Jun 2020 QC 31983

Trips between home and work are generally considered private travel. In some circumstances, you can claim a deduction for travel between home and work, as well as for some travel between two workplaces.

If your travel was partly private, you can only claim what you incurred in the course of performing your work duties.


In limited circumstances you can claim the cost of trips between home and work, where: 

  • see list below, OR
  • you were required to carry bulky tools or equipment for work and all of the following conditions were met:
    • The tools or equipment were essential for you to perform your employment duties and you didn’t carry them merely as a matter of choice. e.g. employer requires you to use for work
    • The tools or equipment were bulky – meaning that because of their size and weight they were awkward to transport and could only be transported conveniently by the use of a motor vehicle. 
    • There was no secure storage for the items at the workplace (e.g. cello, extension ladder).


Can claim IN LIMITED CIRCUMSTANCESCAN NOT CLAIM
  • bulky tools (see above)
  • directly between two separate workplaces – for example, when you have a second job (if one of these places isn't your home)
  • from your normal workplace to an alternative workplace that is not a regular workplace (for example, a client's premises) while still on duty, and back to your normal workplace or directly home
  • if your home was a base of employment – you're required to start your work at home then travel to a workplace to continue your work for the same employer
  • if you had shifting places of employment – you regularly work at more than one site each day before returning home
  • from your home to an alternative workplace that is not a regular workplace for work purposes, and then to your normal workplace or directly home (this doesn't apply where the alternative workplace has become a regular workplace)

Transport expenses can include the cost of driving your car, ride-share (such as Uber) and ride-sourcing, flights or catching a train, taxi or bus.

  • you do minor work-related tasks – for example, picking up the mail on the way to work or home
  • you have to drive between your home and your workplace more than once a day
  • you are on call – for example, you are on stand-by duty and your employer contacts you at home to come into work
  • there is no public transport near where you work
  • you work outside normal business hours – for example, shift work or overtime
  • your home was a place where you ran your own business and you travelled directly to a place of work where you worked for somebody else
  • you do some work at home.




Trips between home and work 

Cost incurred to put them in a position to work, 

rather than the course of performing the work


Example: public transport not available

Tim works at his local cinema. His shift often finishes late into the night. The only available bus doesn't operate past 7:00 pm so Tim has to drive to and from work.

The cost Tim incurs to drive to work is not deductible. This is because Tim incurs the cost to put him in the position to earn his employment income, not in the course of performing his work duties.

https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/income-deductions-offsets-and-records/deductions-you-can-claim/cars-transport-and-travel/trips-you-can-and-can-t-claim



Example: travelling while on standby duty

Nadena is a registered nurse at a hospital. During a typical fortnight, Nadena has 9 shifts and one standby shift. If another nurse calls in sick when Nadena is on standby duty she may be called in to work that shift.

The standby shift may be at night, early morning or during the day, depending on her roster cycle.

Nadena can't claim a deduction for travel between her home and the hospital when she is called into work while she is on standby duty.

She incurs the expense in travelling from her home to the hospital, not in the course of performing her work duties. The transport costs are a private expense. This is the case even if the shift is outside normal business hours or there is no public transport available.


Example: home is base of employment

Tom is the IT Security Director of a data storage company. He's on call 24 hours a day to be notified of a security breach. His employer installs a secure terminal at his home so he can work from home if he receives a call out of hours. Normally, Tom would provide advice over the phone to the staff on site, and sometimes he would log into the secure terminal at his home to correct the issue.

At times, Tom starts working on a security issue from the home terminal but is then required to drive into the office out of hours to resolve the issue. On these occasions the transport expenses he incurs for this journey are deductible, as his home has become a base of employment. However, his regular daily trip into the office is not deductible.


Example: one work site each day

Chloe is a substitute teacher, who travels to different schools when teachers are away. She sometimes attends a school for just one day, and at other times for a few weeks.

Chloe is not doing itinerant work. While she may not know where she's going to work each day, she will only ever work at one location for the day. She can't claim a deduction for her trips between home and work.


Teacher

Travel from your place of residence to various schools is not an allowable deduction, the ATO also have a public ruling which addresses this issue for relief teachers pls refer to Tax Ruling us paragraphs 156 - 162 refer here - TR95/14 

https://community.ato.gov.au/s/question/a0J9s0000001GTE/p00039614