Sometimes an employee may travel to a temporary workplace
without that journey being significantly different from his or her
ordinary commuting journey. A journey that is for practical
purposes substantially the same as the employee's ordinary
commuting journey is treated as if it were also ordinary commuting.
Therefore, no deduction is allowed for the journey, see
EIM32055.
This is intended as a common sense rule that applies where
the journey between home and a temporary workplace is broadly the
same as the employee's ordinary commuting journey. In particular,
it will deny relief where employees or employers seek to turn an
ordinary commuting journey into a business journey to try to get a
tax deduction.
Applying this rule will depend on the facts of the particular
case and some common cases are illustrated by the examples
beginning with example
EIM32301. However, you should not try to
argue that a journey to or from a temporary workplace is
substantially ordinary commuting where the extra distance involved
is 10 miles or more each way, see example
EIM32306.
A journey to a temporary workplace that takes the employee in
a completely different direction to his or her ordinary commuting
journey is not substantially ordinary commuting even if the
distance is the same. Conversely, a journey that is made in broadly
the same direction and is substantially the same length as the
ordinary commuting journey is substantially ordinary commuting even
if the employee takes a different route. The effect of this rule is
illustrated by the examples beginning with example
EIM32307.
