In the hustle and bustle of tax return season it’s useful to remember tax cases that could cause problems when completing tax returns.
The Samadian case is such a case as it outlines the key considerations when considering what relief is available for travel and when travel to work is not travel to work. As a reminder, the Tribunal provided guidance to support its decision and to provide advice going forward, which takes the form of four main points:
- travel expenses for journeys between places of business for purely business purposes are treated as deductible;
- travel expenses for journeys between a location which is not a place of business and a location which is a place of business are not deductible;
- travel expenses for journeys between home (even where the home is used as a place of business) and places of business are treated as non-deductible (other than in very exceptional circumstances, such as if Dr Samadian were at one of the private hospitals preparing to see a patient, and he realised that he needed his notes on the patient but he had left the notes in his office at home and he made a special trip to go home to collect the notes, but immediately returned to the hospital to see the patient); and
- travel expenses are treated as deductible in relation to itinerant work (such as Dr Samadian's home visits to patients).
Judgement will need to be made on a journey-by-journey basis. This means that it is vital to keep robust records of all business journeys undertaken.
