Other work-related expense continues
- He also provided a floor plan of his residence at the time (without dimensions), showing that he used a room for an office and another room for office storage (making up approximately 30% of the residence).
- Additionally, the taxpayer obtained evidence to confirm he used his home as a place of work while he was employed by Amcom from both:
- a former client who confirmed that he had a number of business meetings at Mr Reid’s residence between 2012 and 2016 because it was convenient to do so; and
- former colleagues who confirmed staff had remote access to work from home and that Mr Reid worked from his home “from time to time”.
- Employer 1 (Amcom’s) letter to the ATO – However, the taxpayer’s first employer (Amcom) provided the ATO (in response to a request for information) a letter outlining what it provided to Mr Reid in relation to his employment, including confirming that:
- Mr Reid had been provided with a mobile phone from Amcom and that he was also required to use his own mobile phone to carry out his duties.
- Amcom had paid the full cost of Mr Reid’s mobile phone expenses.
- Amcom had provided Mr Reid with a laptop computer.
- Mr Reid could work from home (both during business and overtime hours), however, it was expected he would spend the majority of his time in the North Sydney office.
- Amcom also confirmed that when working from home, the taxpayer would be expected to use his own internet.
- Additionally, Amcom confirmed that its employees incurred general expenses such as client entertainment and travel expenses, for which they were reimbursed on a monthly basis.
- Employer 2 (Nextgen’s) letter to Mr Reid – The Managing Director of Nextgen provided a letter to confirm that during his term of employment, Mr Reid’s primary office was at his place of residence due to the fact Nextgen was unable to provide a desk in Sydney. The letter also confirmed that Mr Reid was not reimbursed for any costs incurred while working from home.
- The ATO disallowed the taxpayer’s deductions for these other work-related expenses (although the Item D5 claim for other work-related expenses for the 2016 income year was partly allowed on objection for unexplained reasons).