A computer software specialist obtains work through her personal
service company. She is a director and owns the bulk of the shares
in the company. The registered office of the company is at her
home. In 2003/04 her company had four consecutive contracts with
different clients to install software at their premises. She lives
in Reading and the contracts involved work at four different sites
within Greater London. The company pays her travel costs.
In addition to the work at client's premises she works at
home in the evenings and weekends and also during times when her
service company has no contracts. She deals with the payroll and
bookkeeping for the company, familiarises herself with new software
products and prepares for the work that she carries out at client's
premises.
The travel expenses paid to her by the company are chargeable
under Part 3 Chapter 3 ITEPA 2003, see
EIM01110. No deduction is available
under Section 337 ITEPA 2003 from the amount charged.
Her home is not a place of work. The work that she does at
home is not part of the substantive duties of the employment, see
EIM32780. Her substantive duties are
carried out at client's premises. There is no objective requirement
that she should work at home, the only requirement placed on her is
to work at client's premises.
However, it may be that each of the four sites at which she
works is a temporary workplace, see
EIM32075. If so, Section 338 ITEPA 2003
permits a deduction for the cost of travel between her home and
each site.
