Conditions for travel expense deduction
Scenario:
I am a substitute teacher, who travels to different schools when teachers are away. I sometimes attend a school for just one day, and at other times for a few weeks.
Am I carrying an itinerant work which makes me eligible to claim a deduction for the cost of the transport?
Explanation:
If you do itinerant work (or have shifting places of work) you can claim the cost of transportation expenses you incur when travelling between workplaces and your home.
In this scenario, you are not carrying out itinerant work. To be eligible to deductions, you need to meet one of the following conditions:
• Travel is a fundamental part of your work, as the very nature of your work, not just because it is convenient for you or your employer.
• You have a 'web' of workplaces 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.
While you may not know where you are going to work each day, you will only ever work at one location for the day. You can't claim a deduction for the cost of transport between home and work.